A former key man in Japan's long-ruling conservative party was formally charged in a money scandal on Sunday on the eve of a reshuffle of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Kanezo Muraoka, 73, who reportedly handled funds for the biggest faction in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He was not held in custody.
The indictment was not expected to weaken the power base of Prime Minister Koizumi, who belongs to a smaller LDP faction and who has criticised the old-style money politics of the party.
But opposition parties are still expected to attack the LDP's overall political ethics when Koizumi, who rose to power in April 2001, calls a special session of parliament next month.
Koizumi is set to reshuffle his cabinet on Monday to gain the leverage to silence critics within his ruling party of his unpopular plan to privatise postal services.
Muraoka was charged with taking the initiative in the faction's failure to declare 100 million yen (910,000 dollars) in a political donation from a dental association in 2002.
In media interviews he has repeatedly denied the charges.
The faction was led by Ryutaro Hashimoto, prime minister from 1996 to 1998, for four years until late July when the scandal surfaced.
According to the indictment, the former premier received a 100 million yen check from former officers of the Japan Dental Association at a restaurant in Tokyo and gave it to an accountant for his faction.
Political donations from interest groups are legal but parties and politicians must declare them. The accountant, Toshiyuki Takigawa, was indicted earlier on the same charges.
Muraoka, who was top spokesman for Hashimoto when he was premier, conspired with Takigawa in making a false report on political donations to authorities in 2002, according to the indictment.
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