The Democratic Party of Japan placed an ad in six newspapers Wednesday to apologize for falsely claiming that scandal-tainted Livedoor Co. sent illicit money to a son of Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe.
The apology was issued in the names of the nation's main opposition force and House of Representatives lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata, who was stripped of his party membership after the allegations, made in the Diet in February, were proved false.
Nagata and the DPJ, at Diet panel sessions and through the media, "claimed as if Livedoor Co. sent 30 million yen to a bank account of the second son of Mr. Tsutomu Takebe and Livedoor funds were therefore funneled to Secretary General Takebe's side, but they were entirely groundless statements," the apology reads.