A former Foreign Ministry expert on Russian affairs pleaded not guilty Tuesday to misusing more than 33 million yen from a ministerial fund to pay for a trip abroad by officials and denied interfering in bidding for a construction project on one of the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.
At his first trial session before the Tokyo District Court, Masaru Sato, 42, denied misappropriating the money for a trip to Israel by ministry officials and inviting an Israeli scholar to Japan.
Sato, who had strong ties with arrested lawmaker Muneo Suzuki, also denied unlawfully helping trading firm Mitsui & Co. win the project on Kunashiri Island in 2000.