The Cabinet has no plans to investigate allegations that former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa leaked police information about a planned drug raid to his alleged mistress, his successor told the Diet Tuesday.
"If he had been leaking police information, it would have been a grave problem. But Nakagawa clearly denied having had police information," Yasuo Fukuda said during a session of the House of Representatives Cabinet Committee. "Investigative authorities will properly deal with the matter in accordance with the law, if they find it necessary to do so."
Nakagawa, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's closest aide, resigned Friday over the allegations, which had been raised in weekly magazines. The publications also accused Nakagawa of having close connections with senior rightist figures.
In addition, several media outlets late last week aired a tape recording of a telephone conversation in which Nakagawa warns a woman that she may be the subject of a police drug investigation.
He is believed to have had an extramarital affair with the woman.
Fukuda also said the Cabinet does not intend to seek the truth about published photographs that show Nakagawa and a senior rightist figure sitting face to face in a restaurant.
Fukuda said he believes Nakagawa's claim that he neither directly knew the man nor had ties with a rightist group.
He noted, however, that it would be a different story if there was evidence to contradict Nakagawa's explanations, and said that there was none available at the moment.
A top-ranking government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, later said that if Nakagawa has been lying about the allegations, he would have to resign as a Diet member.