Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has apologised after two former aides were charged with violating the laws on political funding.

日本首相鸠山由纪夫两名助手因违反政治捐款相关法律而受指控，鸠山由纪夫因此向公众致歉。

Mr Hatoyama said he felt a 'deep responsibility'

Prosecutors¹ indicted² the aides earlier on Thursday for misreporting millions of dollars of donations捐款，捐赠.

Analysts³ say the indictments⁴控告，起诉 are a big embarrassment⁵窘迫，难堪 for Mr Hatoyama's new government, which took power in August.

The prime minister said he felt "a deep responsibility" for what happened, but added that he would not resign辞职，放弃.

Family fortune

Former aide Keiji Katsuba was charged with falsifying伪造，歪曲 reports to make it appear that 360m yen⁶ ($3.9m) in donations to the ruling Democratic Party (DPJ) came from individual supporters, when in fact most of the money was given by Mr Hatoyama's family.

The prime minister's former chief accountant总会计师 Daisuke Haga was also indicted - accused of failing to pay sufficient attention to the false reports - and has been ordered to pay a 300,000 yen fine, according to Jiji Press.

Both men were fired before Mr Hatoyama's election win over the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in August.

There is no suspicion of bribery⁷贿赂 because of the origin of the funds, and the prime minister himself is not expected to be charged.

He has said he had no idea about the misreporting of donations.

Mr Hatoyama hails from来自，出生于 a wealthy family, sometimes dubbed授予……称号 Japan's version of the Kennedys. His mother is the eldest⁸ daughter of Bridgestone普利司通 founder⁹ Shojiro Ishibashi and his grandfather was a former prime minister.

The scandal has been on the front pages of Japanese newspapers for days, and soon after the indictments were announced, Mr Hatoyama told a news conference: "I feel deep responsibility."

But he ruled out排除，取消 the possibility of resignation, saying: "I've decided¹⁰ I should not give up on myself nor my job."

A donations scandal forced Ichiro Ozawa, Mr Hatoyama's predecessor前任，前辈 as leader of the DPJ, to step down from the post in May.

Amid continuing economic problems, Mr Hatoyama has already seen support for his government fall since the elections that brought him to power.

The DPJ is marking its 100th day in office on Thursday, but correspondents say the news of the indictments will give it little cause for celebration.