Embattled cell biologist Haruko Obokata can neither confirm nor reject a recent claim by the government-backed Riken institute that there are further inaccuracies in images in one of the research papers she co-wrote on stem cell development, her lawyer said Thursday.

Hideo Miki quoted her saying that she "was not in charge of the image" in question and thus could not identify whether it is accurate.

Miki told reporters in Osaka that Obokata only learned about the latest allegation through news reports, and he criticized the institute for releasing information that was not included in its final report on previous allegations leveled at the papers.