Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata got on the same page as his party Thursday by finally admitting the e-mail he trotted out in the Diet last month in a bid to demonstrate shady financial ties between an arrested entrepreneur and a son of Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe was fake.
The DPJ suffered a major screw-up over the e-mail that Nagata alleged was an internal order by Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie to have 30 million yen sent to Takebe's son. The DPJ admitted Tuesday the e-mail was fake, after Nagata earlier apologized for the uproar. But he had continued to stand by his allegation.
"We now realize that there was no basis for the accusation concerning the e-mail message and the bank account (described in the message)," DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama said, responding to questions submitted by the LDP.