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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (2524)	3/4/1998 7:18:00 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 9980

MM--Yep, a growing decline in morality.>>Global currency markets left jittery by Japanese scandal 4.13 p.m. ET (2113 GMT) March 4, 1998 By Chester Dawson, Associated Press TOKYO (AP) - Once known as the Mount Fuji of the nation's bureaucracy, Japan's Finance Ministry has been so battered by an influence-peddling scandal that anxiety is beginning to show in global currency markets. The most striking development so far occurred during a parliamentary committee meeting Tuesday, when opposition legislator Shozo Kusakawa accused the highest-profile member of the ministry of helping out an acquaintance who allegedly had slipped him several hundred dollars for "cab fare'' after meetings between 1987 and 1990. Though unsubstantiated and immediately denied by a more senior ministry official, the allegation against Vice Finance Minister Eisuke Sakakibara, sent shock waves through global currency markets Tuesday. Finance Minister Hikaru Matsunaga responded to the charge by pledging to reopen an in-house investigation that earlier had cleared Sakakibara of suspicions he used his influence to pressure Daiwa Securities Co. to compensate for investment losses suffered by an acquaintance, an unidentified company president. Sakakibara, who was in Thailand on Wednesday for meetings with local officials, expressed confidence that he would be not be found to have improper ties to the business acquaintance. The currency market's swift reaction reflected a deep sense of unease over an unrelenting stream of allegations against Finance Ministry officials. Two of its officials were arrested on bribery charges in January - the first such arrests since the end of World War II. Recently, Tokyo prosecutors have stepped up their probe into alleged institutionalized favoritism. Ministry officials are suspected of having been wined and dined by banks and other financial companies in return for hassle-free oversight of their business operations. The Mainichi, a nationwide newspaper, reported Wednesday that several ranking officials on the ministry's fast-track for promotion received lavish entertainment after work, courtesy of Nomura Securities Co. and a number of major city banks. A Nomura Securities spokesman refused to comment on the report.