Sources say former state justice minister Kakizawa Mito intends to admit that he engaged in illegal campaign actions in connection with a local mayoral election in Tokyo. This comes after Kakizawa previously denied the allegations of wrongdoing made against him.

Last month, prosecutors arrested Kakizawa and his four aides on suspicion of violating the public offices election law.

Kakizawa is suspected of buying votes on behalf of Kimura Yayoi, who successfully ran in the mayoral election in Tokyo's Koto Ward in April of last year.

Kakizawa, who belonged to the Liberal Democratic Party, supported Kimura, even though the LDP was backing another candidate.
He is suspected of paying, or offering to pay, a total of about 2.6 million yen, or about 18,000 dollars, to Koto Ward assembly members and Kimura's campaign staff.

Kakizawa had earlier said the payments were mid-campaign contributions for an assembly election held at the same time as the mayoral contest.

Sources say he has shifted his position and will no longer deny the allegations of vote buying.

They say he also intends to admit that he recommended that Kimura's camp use paid online ads during the campaign -- another violation of the election law.

Kakizawa resigned as state justice minister in October, after the allegations about the online ads came to light. He left the LDP in December, after his offices were raided by prosecutors.