Photo/Illutration Princess Mako and Kei Komuro announce their plan to marry at a news conference in September 2017. (Pool)

Princess Mako's boyfriend is considering paying his mother’s former fiance to settle a financial dispute between his mother and the man, Kei Komuro's lawyer told reporters on April 12.

The dispute has caused Komuro and Mako to postpone their marriage plans after the imperial family expressed concern over the matter.

Komuro believes he successfully demonstrated his family’s attempts to resolve the issue through discussions in a statement he released on April 8, according to his lawyer.

Both Komuro’s family and the former fiance share the view that the man provided more than 4 million yen ($36,500) mainly as living expenses to the family during the period he was engaged to Komuro's mother, Kayo.

But the two sides remain divided over whether the money was a loan or financial support.

Komuro issued the statement detailing the background behind the financial troubles and his family’s exchanges with the man over the matter to rebut reports by weekly magazines and other media.

Komuro’s lawyer and a weekly magazine reporter representing the former fiance have held talks over the issue since 2019.

But Komuro revealed in the statement that the discussions came to a standstill when they were searching for common ground and that the two sides have not discussed the matter since November last year.

Although Komuro says he is mulling paying the man, the former fiance is no longer asking for the money back and has no plan to change his mind about it, the weekly magazine reporter told The Asahi Shimbun on April 10.

Mako, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko, and Komuro announced their intention to wed in September 2017. But the Imperial Household Agency said in February 2018 the marriage had been delayed after the financial issues involving Komuro's family came to light.

Komuro’s lawyer said his client decided to pay the former fiance as a next step to move the issue forward partly due to a deadlock in their discussions. Komuro is considering giving the man the same amount his family had received from him during the engagement period, the lawyer added.

Kayo became engaged with the man in 2010, but he broke off the relationship two years later.

According to Komuro’s statement, the former fiance offered to fully support Komuro’s family, including financial assistance, and Kayo repeatedly asked the man if he was sure there was no problem providing her money after she accepted it.

When their relationship ended in 2012, Kayo told the man that she would repay the funds she received while they were engaged, but the man said he had “no intention to accept it back,” the statement said.

Komuro also noted in the statement that he has an audio recording of the man’s remarks.

But the former fiance told The Asahi Shimbun in 2018 that it was Kayo who asked for financial assistance and that she presented him with the specific amount she wanted to receive.

“I’ve never said I gave her the money,” the man said. “I intended it as a loan.”

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