Tokyo prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a top aide to Ichiro Ozawa, president of Japan’s resurgent Democratic party, on charges of falsely reporting illegal donations, but the opposition leader vowed to fight on to achieve his “great goal” of toppling the long-ruling Liberal Democratic party.

A teary-eyed Mr Ozawa, 66, was in turn defiant and contrite at a press conference as he sought to draw a line under a fundraising scandal that had prompted widespread calls for him to resign ahead of a general election that has appeared increasingly likely to catapult him into power.