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TOKYO: Japanese prosecutors indicted a former aide to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Thursday over a political funds scandal that risks further denting the premier's waning popularity, media reports said.
Tokyo district prosecutors indicted Daisuke Haga, Hatoyama's former chief accountant, for alleged violation of the political funds control law, public broadcaster NHK and local news agencies said.
Prosecutors said Haga neglected to pay sufficient attention to prevent the misreporting of millions of dollars in political donations by another former aide, Keiji Katsuba, 59, NHK said.
Katsuba allegedly falsified political funding reports on a total of 360 million yen, making money provided by Hatoyama himself and his mother look like donations from individual supporters, the broadcaster said.
Prosecutors also plan to indict Katsuba but not the prime minister due to a lack of evidence that he was involved in any wrongdoing, it said.
Hatoyama is the heir to a wealthy political dynasty often dubbed Japan's Kennedys. His mother is a daughter of the founder of tyre-maker Bridgestone.
The indictment is a fresh blow for the political blue-blood, whose party swept to power in August's elections, ousting the long-ruling conservatives with a promise of radical reform in the world's number two economy.
The Stanford-trained engineering scholar has seen his cabinet's public approval rating sink below 50 per cent, compared with more than 70 per cent in his first weeks in office, according to recent media polls.
- AFP/so
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