TOKYO (TR) – Prosecutors have announced the non-prosecution of Takaya Muto, a controversial former Liberal Democratic Party member, over an alleged hit-and-run accident in the capital five years ago, reports TBS News (April 21).
Early on July 16, 2016, a car driven by Muto, 41, allegedly struck a male pedestrian, aged in his 60s, in the shoulder in Nakano Ward. He then drove off.
The victim suffered a bruise to his right arm.
Muto was sent to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Act and negligent driving resulting in death or injury in March.
On Wednesday, he was not prosecuted in the case due to insufficient evidence. “We were able to identify the hit-and-run car, but there was no evidence to identify the driver,” prosecutors said.
In 2015, Muto, then a Lower House member, resigned from the Liberal Democratic Party after the emergence of an investment scandal involving unlisted stocks.
Weekly tabloid Shukan Bunshun then published a report detailing his alleged sexual relationship with a teenage boy.
