(MENAFN- AFP) The IRS official who oversees non-profit applications refused to testify Wednesday at a congressional panel probing abuse at the US tax agency but defiantly insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Lois Lerner, director of exempt organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment constitutional rights, citing accusations by lawmakers that earlier she had provided false testimony.
The Internal Revenue Service is the subject of a swirling Washington scandal in which agents under Lerner's responsibility were found to have inappropriately targeted conservative organizations, including "Tea Party" groups, applying for non-profit status.
While she declined to answer any questions by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa, Lerner offered a brief statement.
"I have not done anything wrong," she said in a slow, deliberate tone.
"I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other committee."
Lerner was eventually excused from the hearing and left with her lawyer, leaving top committee Democrat Elijah Cummings expressing disappointment that she would not shed light on what she knew about the abuse, and when.
But another Democrat, Stephen Lynch, vented his frustration by threatening that continued stonewalling by IRS officials -- who have refused to name anyone directly involved in the abuse or say whether more senior officials knew about it -- will leave Congress "no alternative" but to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the wrongdoing.
"There will be hell to pay if that's the route that you choose to go down," Lynch snapped.
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