Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sits in the session of the Lower House Deliberative Council on Political Ethics.

But he says `some objective facts indicate' he received the 100-million check.

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto denied any wrongdoing Tuesday in connection with a 100-million-yen donation from a dentists' group to the Liberal Democratic Party faction he once led.

Hashimoto responded to questions in unsworn, closed-door testimony at the Lower House's Deliberative Council on Political Ethics.

According to Diet members who attended the session, Hashimoto did not clearly say whether he had met with officials from the Japan Dentists Federation, the political arm of the Japan Dental Association, at a Tokyo restaurant in July 2001 at which he allegedly received the 100-million-yen check.

He only said that based on a review of his appointment calendar, ``I think it was a fact'' that he met them.

In the past, Hashimoto has said he had no recollection of meeting with JDF officials or receiving the check.

He also said ``some objective facts indicate'' that he received the JDF check. A former chairman of the JDA recently testified in court that he gave a check to Hashimoto. The former treasurer of Hashimoto's faction also testified that Hashimoto then gave him the check.

However, Hashimoto has said he gave no instructions about what to do with the check.

Toshiyuki Takigawa, 55, the former treasurer of the LDP faction, pleaded guilty in the Tokyo District Court last week to having filed a false political funds report. He said he was only following the orders of faction executives.

Takigawa pointed at former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka as being the individual who instructed that the donation be concealed.

Muraoka was indicted on charges of violating the Political Fund Control Law. Hashimoto and others in his former faction were not charged.

Hashimoto did not indicate he was prepared to resign his Diet seat. He told the ethics council that he had taken responsibility for the questionable donation by resigning as faction head and saying he would not run as a candidate from a single-seat district in the next Lower House election. Hashimoto may remain in the Diet if the LDP decides to list him on its proportional representation constituency roster.

Officials of the LDP and coalition partner New Komeito defended Hashimoto for volunteering to talk to the ethics council, but opposition members unanimously stated that more open, broader questioning of not only Hashimoto but other past and current executives of the faction is needed.

Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) head Katsuya Okada said that suspicions surrounding Hashimoto had only deepened. He added his party would insist Hashimoto appear as a sworn witness in the Diet when January's ordinary session begins.

``Anyone can see that it is impossible for someone who received 100 million yen to say `I have no recollection,''' Okada said. ``He should have spoken more clearly, honestly and frankly.''(IHT/Asahi: December 1,2004)