SAM HANANEL, Associated Press 5:33 p.m. EDT April 1, 2015

Lois Lerner, ex-director of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division at the IRS, declines to answer questions from Rep. Darrell Issa.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) The Justice Department won't seek criminal contempt charges against Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the center of a controversy over how the agency treated conservative political groups.

Ronald Machen, the outgoing U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, announced the decision in a March 31 letter to House Speaker John Boehner that was made public on Wednesday.

The GOP-controlled House had referred the case to federal prosecutors after lawmakers voted last year to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress for her refusal to testify before a pair of committee hearings.

Lerner directed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. She set off a political firestorm in 2013 when she disclosed that agents had improperly singled out applications from tea party and other conservative groups for extra, sometimes burdensome scrutiny.

An inspector general's report found no evidence of a political conspiracy, instead blaming poor management at the agency. But many Republicans in Congress remain skeptical.

Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions at a hearing before the House Oversight Committee. But House Republicans claim she waived her constitutional right by delivering an opening statement in which she declared her innocence.

In his letter, Machen said a team of "experienced career prosecutors" determined that Lerner did not waive her Fifth Amendment rights by making "general claims of innocence."

Machen, whose last day in office was Wednesday, said prosecutors concluded that it would not be appropriate to send contempt charges to a grand jury because the Constitution protects her.

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Justice Dept.: No contempt charges for Lois Lerner