Yoshio Kurauchi, the former speaker of the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly, denied on Thursday that he accepted cash in exchange for favors, but offered no documentary evidence and ended his first press conference since resigning after about 90 minutes, as reporters were still asking questions. The allegations against him were not resolved.
Kurauchi, 72, spoke at a hotel in Fukuoka city. He bowed at the start of the conference and said he had never received cash that would violate political ethics, and that his reputation had been damaged, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
He resigned abruptly on August 25 while the allegations were still swirling around him. He had dominated the assembly as its "don" — the behind-the-scenes power — while questions over money changing hands unsettled the chamber.
Asked about the public funding for a One Health office, Kurauchi said the cost was high by the standards of ordinary residents. One Health is a public-health approach that treats human, animal and environmental health as linked.
He said the One Health program had suffered reputational damage from the allegations, and called that regrettable.
On the person who made the allegations against him, Kurauchi said he had consulted lawyers and was prepared to take legal action.
A former prefectural assembly member said he found it hard to understand how Kurauchi could keep insisting on his innocence, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. The former member's name and the context of the remark were not given in the report.