It was inappropriate for prosecutors not to press charges against former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto over his Liberal Democratic Party faction's failure in 2001 to report a 100 million yen donation from the scandal-tainted Japan Dental Association, a Tokyo inquest panel said Thursday.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The Tokyo Dai-ni Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution also criticized the decision by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office not to prosecute Mikio Aoki, chairman of the LDP caucus in the House of Councilors, and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka, for their alleged involvement in the donation coverup.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Until last summer, Hashimoto led the LDP faction to which both Aoki and Nonaka belonged.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The majority decision by the committee, consisting of 11 members chosen by drawing lots from among the electorate, is not legally binding, but prosecutors are required to review their decisions following critical reports by the panel.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Hashimoto released a statement later in the day, again denying that he played any role in the faction's decision to keep the donation secret.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Thursday's decision is expected to deal a serious blow to the LDP, with the opposition demanding the Diet summon the three and three other involved parties to give sworn testimony.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The committee said the prosecutors' investigation was insufficient and called on them to reopen the case.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The panel reached the conclusion last week in response to an appeal lodged by two Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers against the prosecutor's decision last year. The lawmakers were informed of the panel's conclusion Thursday.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'This –

committee called (the prosecution's decision) unjust," DPJ Secretary General Tatsuo Kawabata said as he challenged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during a Diet session Thursday.

He asked Koizumi, who heads the LDP, if he still believes Hashimoto's explanation that he probably received the JDA donation but was never involved in falsifying the faction's political funds report to conceal it. The 100 million yen check was believed handed to Hashimoto at a dinner.

Kawabata was posing a question for Koizumi at the House of Representatives Budget Committee, urging him to demonstrate leadership and have the LDP members clean up their acts. Koizumi was noncommittal.

"I understand that each party has been proceeding with consultations on what (measures) would be needed," he told the committee. "I'd like the executive board (of the budget committee) and each party to have thorough consultations as to what kind of witness should be summoned."