Three former aides of Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa pleaded not guilty Monday to falsifying the records of his political fund management body Rikuzankai in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
The Tokyo District Court trial of the three former secretaries, which is scheduled to run until late July, is widely expected to have a bearing on the separate trial of the DPJ kingpin, who was specially indicted Jan. 31 for his alleged involvement in cooking his political funds books.
The three defendants — Lower House lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, 37, Takanori Okubo, 49, and Mitsutomo Ikeda, 33 — stand accused, as does Ozawa, of violating the Political Funds Control Law.