TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court has acquitted veteran ruling party lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa in a political funding scandal.
Ozawa engineered the Democratic Party of Japan‘s rise to power in 2009 and remains a key behind-the-scenes power broker in Japanese politics.
He was charged last year with overseeing false accounting by his former aides in a murky 2004 land deal.
The Tokyo District Court said Thursday it found no evidence of Ozawa collaborating with the three aides. The acquittal could reinstate Ozawa’s party membership, allowing him to exert more sway over the ruling party.
The three former aides were convicted last year over the case and have since appealed.
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