Ichiro Ozawa, who engineered the Democratic Party of Japan’s rise to power in 2009, was charged this year for allegedly overseeing false accounting by his former aides in a murky 2004 land deal.

Prosecutors say that Ozawa was fully aware of the false bookkeeping by the three aides to cover up questionable funds used in the land deal, and that he authorized the false entry of the transaction in an annual political funds report to the government.

Ozawa, 69, told the Tokyo District Court on Thursday that he is not guilty.

“There was no erroneous bookkeeping, and I have never conspired with anyone,” Ozawa said, denying the allegations.

Ozawa said his indictment was based on “unjust and illegal” investigation.

The three former aides were convicted last month over the case and have since appealed.

The scandal has damaged Ozawa’s ambitions to become prime minister, though he still wields considerable influence within the party. The trial is being closely watched in Japan, where Ozawa generally has a negative public image as an old-style wheeler-dealer. More than 2,100 people lined up Thursday for 49 seats in court. The trial is likely to take months, with a ruling expected in April.

A fixture in Japanese politics for decades, Ozawa has championed reforms, such as deregulation, giving more authority to regional governments and reining in Japan’s powerful bureaucrats. His 1993 book, “Blueprint for a New Japan,” argued that Japan needed to reform its political system and take a more active role in international affairs, garnering significant attention in Washington.