Tokyo, Mar 23 (IANS): Former Japanese Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai pleaded guilty at a court on Tuesday to a bribery scandal and said he will step down as a lower house lawmaker.

At the Tokyo District Court, Kawai, an ally of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, admitted that he had paid bribes to local politicians and supporters in Hiroshima in return for securing votes for his wife Anri Kawai in the 2019 upper house elections, dpa news agency quoted a local media report as saying.

Tsutomu Sato, chairperson of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) told a news conference that Kawai, who is currently an MP, should quit.

Kawai and his wife Anri, who won the race to become an upper house lawmaker, were indicted in July 2020 on charges of violating the nation's election law by buying votes in the 2019 campaign.

According to the indictment, Kawai, who once served as Abe's special adviser for foreign affairs, handed out a total of about 29 million yen ($267,000) to 100 local politicians and supporters in return for their efforts to secure votes for his wife, the report said.

Most of the 100 people questioned by prosecutors have admitted to receiving the cash, it added.

The LDP injected an unusually large amount of 150 million yen into Kawai's camp during the campaign.

Anri Kawai was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for five years, for conspiring with her husband.

She quit as a lawmaker in February.