Former Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa should go before a Diet ethics committee to give a detailed explanation about his political funds scandal, land minister Seiji Maehara said late Tuesday.

"Since I remember that he himself has been positive toward attending the political ethics committee and fully explaining (the scandal), I think he should do so and confidently make his own assertion," Maehara told reporters.

Maehara has distanced himself from Ozawa, who last week quit his DPJ post but is still considered the ruling party kingpin.