TOKYO, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Japanese prosecutors will not press charges against a former prime minister and lawmakers despite their failure to report $2.7 million in dubious donations.
A special investigation found that the Japan Dental Association donated more than $1.8 million between 2001 and 2002 to about 25 lawmakers, current or former, who allegedly failed to report the income.
Another $0.9 million was donated separately to a Liberal Democratic Party faction then led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
The lawmakers received the donations from a political arm of the dental association, without entering them in their political fund reports.
Officers said they would not press charges against Hashimoto and other lawmakers, effectively closing the seven month-old case, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Friday.
Prosecutors, however, plan to indict the dental association's former chairman and managing director as well as the treasurer of the LDP faction on charges of violating the Political Funds Control Law.
Opposition parties have called for further explanation of the case in the next Diet session.
