Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Iwao Uruma stressed March 9 that he does not recall saying the scandal over alleged illicit political donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co. would not implicate lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Iwao Uruma on March 9 addresses an Upper House Budget Committee session. KYODO PHOTO

But he added that whatever comments he made were off the record and may have been misinterpreted.

"I don't think I made statements that would deny the neutrality or fairness of the prosecutors' investigation by pointing out the tendency of investigations over a specific political party's lawmakers," Uruma told the Upper House Budget Committee. "But I don't know how the reporters perceived my statements."

On March 5, Uruma, speaking as an unidentified "senior government official," reportedly told reporters that the political funds' scandal "would not spread to LDP lawmakers." But because the exchange took place on condition of anonymity, no note-taking was permitted.

At a news conference March 9, Uruma said neither he nor his secretaries remember him making such remarks, but he admitted he has no proof to back up that claim.

"It is either my memory that is wrong or the reporters' memories that are wrong," Uruma said.

He denied the possibility of someone in his position being able to have contact with investigators openly nor secretly, adding that ever since he became a member of the Cabinet, he has had no interaction with prosecutors.

"I don't think (a deputy chief Cabinet secretary) can have contact with investigative authorities and I myself have not been in contact at all with the prosecutors over this case," Uruma said.