The ruling political parties have grown concerned in response to the voluntary questioning by Tokyo prosecutors of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's chief public secretary, among more than 20 others, in connection with dinners hosted by an Abe-related group on the eve of a cherry blossom-viewing party.
Abe has indicated his willingness to cooperate with the investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special squad, while the opposition parties have stepped up their offensive against the ruling parties, calling for the testimony by Abe himself as unsworn witness in the current Diet session.
Abe told reporters at the Diet building on Tuesday, "My office is fully cooperating [with the investigation]."
Asked whether he would give explanations at the Diet session as requested by the opposition parties, Abe said, "I cannot talk about [details] at this point as we're in the middle of [the investigation]."
The opposition parties had grilled Abe when he was prime minister, suspecting that the Abe side had made up the difference between actual dining expenses and participation fees, only for Abe to repeatedly deny the allegation.
Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi told reporters Tuesday, "We're in a position to observe the investigation, but the basic stance on explaining what really happened has been left to former Prime Minister Abe."
With Diet discussion on bills having gone smoothly in the current session, a senior Liberal Democratic Party member said, "We gave the opposition parties good ammunition."
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