Olympics minister Toshiaki Endo, who formerly headed a shake-up of Japan¡¯s English education program, has admitted taking cash from the founder of a Tokyo teacher dispatch agency but said he did nothing wrong.

Speaking during a Lower House Budget Committee meeting, Endo dismissed as ¡°erroneous¡± an allegation leveled against him on Thursday by the daily Mainichi newspaper.

¡°The article is wrong and deeply regrettable,¡± he said.