Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday he will decide whether or how he would take responsibility for a funds scandal after prosecutors conclude their investigation of his former accountant over the false reporting of political donations.

"It is not fair to say that a politician should not be blamed because it is something his secretary has done," he said at the House of Representatives' Budget Committee session.

Hatoyama also admitted that he signed documents to allow the former accountant of his political funds management body to withdraw the premier's own money, which ended up being reported as political donations to the body.

"I thought he (the former accountant) would be borrowing my money simply because he was running out of money for political activities," he said.

Hatoyama, the 62-year-old leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, also said he was aware that a politician is not allowed to donate more than 10 million yen in one year.

But more than 10 million yen in Hatoyama's own money could have been transferred to his political funds management body.

Hatoyama said he thought he would later get back any excess.

He told reporters later in the day that each of the documents he signed states how much money the former accountant can transfer from his individual account, but that he has not added up the figures and does not know the total amount.

On whether he thinks he should assume oversight responsibility for the former accountant, Hatoyama said it is up to prosecutors to determine whether or not he deserves any punishment as a supervisor.

Under the Political Funds Control Law, a politician could be fined a maximum 500,000 yen if he or she is found to have neglected responsibility as a supervisor of a person who is in charge of managing his or her political funds.

The former accountant has already admitted during an investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office that he falsely reported the prime minister's individual funds as donations of less than 50,000 yen, according to sources close to the matter.

Political funds management groups do not have to write down the names of people who donate less than 50,000 yen in each lot.

On the funds issue, Hatoyama said in a press conference on June 30 that the body made false statements in its annual reports over four years from 2005 using the names of various people, including deceased ones, regarding a total of around 22 million yen, and blamed the former accountant for the case.

The investigators have been questioning the former accountant.

"I have not contacted the former accountant and cannot tell what is false or not," Hatoyama told parliament. "Investigations are proceeding and the whole picture will be clarified sometime soon."

Since taking office in mid-September, Hatoyama has refused to talk about the issue in detail, saying he has already talked about everything at the press conference in June and prosecutors' investigations are under way.