Prosecutors on Wednesday appealed a lower court ruling acquitting former Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa of conspiring with his former aides to falsify financial reports for his political funds management body, Rikuzankai, in 2004 and 2005.
"The lower court ruling contains factual errors. We believe we can convince high court judges to hand down a guilty verdict with a fairly high level of probability," Shunzo Omuro, one of the three lawyers acting as prosecutors, told at a press conference before the appeal was filed with the Tokyo High Court.
They are in the process of putting together a document that lays out their reasons for the appeal, which will be submitted to the high court, Omuro said.