Japan's scandal-tainted lawmaker quits

Muneo Suzuki

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- The man responsible for the downfall of Japan's popular former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka announced his resignation Friday from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

With tears streaming down his face, Muneo Suzuki said he was resigning because he does not want to disrupt the party's business any further.

"I would like to make a start from square one," he told a news conference at LDP party headquarters on Friday afternoon.

Suzuki's resignation followed his appearance before the LDP's Ethics Committee, who questioned him about allegations of inappropriate meddling in foreign ministry affairs, among other issues.

The committee was expected to ask him to quit if he did not resign voluntarily.

Earlier in the week, he was grilled in parliament about his past behavior, which included inappropriate involvement in the bidding process for Japanese-funded humanitarian aid projects in Kenya and on Kunashiri Island, one of four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan.

He is also alleged to have physically assaulted a foreign ministry bureaucrat in 1996.

In late January, Suzuki feuded with then-Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka over her claims that he had excluded some Japanese non-governmental organizations from the international Afghan aid conference held in Tokyo.

Prime Minister Koizumi fired Tanaka because he said her feuds with Suzuki and other politicians were getting in the way of parliamentary business.