Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto (above) and Taku Yamasaki (below), former LDP vice president, are two of lawmakers involved in a donation scandal.

Opposition Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers and investigators have accused Hashimoto, former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka and several others of having concealed a ¥100 million donation the Japan Dental Association gave to a Liberal-Democratic Party faction headed by Hashimoto in 2001. Failure to have reported the donation to the government would constitute a violation of the Political Funds Control Law.

In November 2004, an Osaka man lodged a criminal complaint against Taku Yamasaki, a confidant of Koizumi, and two LDP lawmakers, claiming the three had mishandled a ¥50 million donation from the association in 2001.

But inquest panels reached nonbinding conclusions earlier this year that prosecutors should reopen the cases on the seven politicians, saying that Yamasaki deserves to be indicted and that their failure to indict the others was unjust.

Inquest panels comprise appointees among citizens selected by lottery. It was not immediately known why the prosecutors had decided not to pursue the case.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 17, 2005
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