A Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker who has been accused over an alleged money scandal quit the party on Wednesday after apologizing for "causing great trouble" to the LDP.
The lawmaker is Takaya Muto, a Lower House member elected from Shiga Prefecture. He has garnered attention for using Twitter to describe student protesters who oppose two government-sponsored security bills as "self-centered and extremely egoistic."
In a statement to media outlets released Wednesday, Muto said he has already filed a lawsuit over the alleged money problem and will make the facts clear in court.
Muto said he left the party because he does not want to cause more trouble to the LDP due to his private affairs.
According to the latest issue of weekly Shukan Bunshun, Muto raised ¥41 million from 23 investors by saying he planned to buy unlisted stocks of a software company to log profits.
But one of Muto's secretaries misappropriated about ¥8 million and Muto has not returned about ¥7 million that he owes to six out of the 23 investors, an unnamed source, who was identified as an acquaintance of Muto's, told the weekly.
In his statement, Muto said he is thinking of filing a criminal complaint against the unnamed source, but did not elaborate further.
Muto was an obscure lawmaker but he drew much public attention after he bashed students staging street demonstrations against the security bills via Twitter on July 30.
He accused those students of "being self-centered and extremely egoistic" because they "do not want to go to a war."
