Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday he is willing to appear in parliament to address allegations that his camp illegally paid for dinner functions attended by his constituents.
"I will deal with (any questions) sincerely after prosecutors finish their investigation," Abe told reporters.
Opposition parties have demanded that Abe appear in the Diet to address allegations that a group managing his political funds spent more than 9 million yen ($87,000) to cover part of the cost of parties held at luxury hotels between 2015 and 2019.
The parties, held on the eve of the government's annual cherry blossom-viewing event, were attended by voters from Abe's constituency in western Japan's Yamaguchi Prefecture.
Tokyo prosecutors are investigating the case and, according to sources familiar with the matter, one of Abe's aides has admitted to neglecting to keep legally-required records of income and expenditures related to the parties.
Abe resigned as prime minister in September for health reasons but remains a lawmaker with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Before the investigation came to light, he had repeatedly testified in parliament that there was no impropriety, an assertion that now appears to have been false.
Speaking to journalists Friday, Jun Azumi, Diet affairs chief of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said Abe had told "lies totally different from the facts" and should be summoned by the end of the year.
A Kyodo News poll conducted this month showed that even among LDP supporters, 53.1 percent of respondents thought Abe should appear in parliament compared with 43.1 percent who saw it as unnecessary.
The allegations could deal a blow to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who as chief Cabinet secretary under his predecessor had defended Abe against criticism from opposition parties and the press.
Suga is already seeing approval ratings plummet amid public dissatisfaction with his response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the LDP will likely seek to avoid any damage ahead of a House of Representatives election that must be held before the terms of lower house members expire Oct. 21 next year.
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