Japanese political powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa has been indicted, court officials said, over a funding scandal that has sharply divided the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
Ozawa, a former party chief and the biggest faction boss of the DPJ, is a veteran backroom operator.
Last September, he narrowly failed to oust Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a leadership battle.
Court-appointed lawyers indicted Ozawa on charges of involvement in false financial statements filed in 2004 and 2005 by the body that manages his campaign funds, the officials said.
In a long-running legal saga, a citizens' review panel had forced the judiciary to once more take up the case against Ozawa in October, after prosecutors had dropped it citing a lack of evidence.
Ozawa called the decision of the citizens' review panel 'illegal and invalid' in a request for the Tokyo District Court to overturn it, but the judges declined to do so.
Today, Ozawa again denied the allegations.
'I have not committed any wrongdoing at all,' Ozawa told a hurriedly arranged news conference following the indictment. 'I will win acquittal as quickly as possible.'
The 68-year-old has long been dogged by the campaign finance scandal, which has seen his offices raided by prosecutors and three of his former aides indicted.
The DPJ has been sharply divided over the scandal. Kan and his aides attempted to persuade Ozawa to leave the party, while his advocates have strongly resisted the internal pressure.
The opposition has also attacked the ruling party.
It alleges that the ruling party is trying to protect Ozawa, a controversial strategist credited with engineering the DPJ's election win in August 2009 that ended more than half a century of conservative rule.
Ozawa last year made headlines when he told a political seminar that Americans are 'mono-cellular' and 'simple-minded', adding for good measure: 'I don't like British people.'
