The Metropolitan Police Department has told the Tokyo District Court that it will not provide the court with information on whether Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was caught in a brothel more than 40 years ago, police sources said Wednesday.

The MPD told the court that police maintain criminal records only for the purpose of investigating criminal cases, the sources said.

The court in August asked the MPD to search for any documents that would prove Mori's alleged detention by police after the prime minister filed a libel suit against the monthly magazine Uwasa no Shinso (Truth of the Rumor), which reported the claim in its June edition.