Japan opposition chief says won't quit over scandal

"TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa said on Wednesday he would not resign over the arrest of a close aide in a fundraising scandal, but the affair cast a cloud over his party's prospects in a looming election.
Ozawa's Democrats have been looking increasingly likely to win an election that must be held by October, ending more than 50 years of nearly unbroken rule by Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
The latest twist in Japan's painful political saga raised concern among investors that an election would fail to break a deadlock in parliament that has stalled government efforts to rescue the economy from its worst recession since World War Two.
Political analysts said the arrest of the aide on suspicion of accepting illegal corporate donations could still prompt Ozawa to resign and upset predictions of a solid opposition victory in the election -- although few expect the struggling LDP to win big as a result.
"I myself have done nothing of which to be ashamed and the actions of my secretary were carried out properly in accordance with the political funding law and properly dealt with," Ozawa told a news conference.
"Therefore, it is not a matter of me doing this or that," he said, when asked whether he would step down."

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