Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, met with continued criticism from opposition lawmakers Thursday after prosecutors the previous day raided his office and funding management body over a dubious land purchase in Tokyo.
In a news conference, Shigeru Ishiba, head of the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, criticized Ozawa for not responding to a request for voluntary questioning by prosecutors.
"It is the people's duty to cooperate with an investigation even if their cooperation is requested on a voluntary basis," he said. "It's unacceptable for a secretary general in a political party to refuse to cooperate (by) saying he is busy."