Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's campaign fund management body has voluntarily provided prosecutors its account ledgers for at least the five years to 2008 in connection with false statements in its fundraising reports, sources said.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office, which has begun questioning people falsely reported by the body as making donations, plans to decide whether to pursue the case in court by the end of this year, the sources said.
"The prime minister wanted to explain the situation to the public himself, but he will refrain from doing so because it could influence the investigation. We will have to wait for the outcome of the investigation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said at a news conference Monday.