Two more of Japan's big banks were implicated Monday
in a widening bribery scandal involving officials at the powerful
Ministry of Finance (MOF).
Tokyo prosecutors issued fresh arrest warrants against two ministry
inspectors, who are already in police custody, on suspicion that they
accepted lavish entertainment from Sumitomo Bank and the Bank
of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTM) in exchange for confidential
information.
The issue of the warrants meant that six of Japan's ten major city
banks have now been implicated in the scandal.
The officials were arrested last month on suspicion of taking similar
favors from four other banks - Asahi, Dai-Ichi Kangyo, Sanwa
and Hokkaido Takushoku. Prosecutors indicted the two on bribery
charges involving these banks Monday.
Koichi Miyakawa is accused of receiving about 1.3 million yen
($10,300) worth of bribes in the form of wining and dining from
Sumitomo Bank, Asahi Bank and Sanwa Bank, while Toshimi
Taniuchi was suspected of receiving more than two million yen
($15,800) worth of bribes from BTM, Sumitomo and Dai-Ichi
Kangyo, prosecutors said.
Banks have pledged to abolish their so-called "MOF handler''
system, under which officials are assigned to wine and dine ministry
officials in return for confidential information such as the schedule
of the supposedly surprise inspections.
Japan also enacted two laws Monday to provide up to 30 trillion
yen ($238 billion) to help prop up the banking sector, but still
unresolved was the issue of what standards would be employed in
deciding which banks get public funds.
Who bribes the best??/
That issue became murkier with the latest allegations against the
two top banks, as some legislators have said banks linked to the
scandal should not get any funds.
Yet with six top banks now involved, such a rule would make it
difficult to carry out the program effectively.
The scandal has jolted the powerful Finance Ministry and led to the
resignation of Hiroshi Mitsuzuka as finance minister last month, as
well as some of the ministry's top bureaucrats.
The ministry belatedly fired the two bank inspectors on Monday,
and the new finance minister, Hikaru Matsunaga, said that possible
punishments for supervisors of the two suspects would be
considered after investigations were completed.
"Such acts by inspectors are impermissible and I find them very
regrettable,'' Matsunaga said in a written statement.
Sumitomo and BTM issued separate statements saying they
regretted the situation but declined comment on the details of the
case on the grounds that investigations were still going on.
"We take the situation seriously and will continue to offer our
cooperation with the investigation,'' Sumitomo said.
Meanwhile, the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that
Satoru Kishi, BTM president and the chairman of the Federation of
Bankers Associations of Japan, may resign over the allegations. |
