Sanwa Bank President Naotaka Saeki, who recently resigned as chairman of a banking industry federation, apologized Tuesday in the Diet over the scandal involving four major banks suspected of bribing Finance Ministry officials to obtain information about inspections.
But Saeki denied that his bank -- one of the four involved -- sought details about a possible merger partner. Saeki resigned Monday as chairman of the Federation of Bankers Associations of Japan to take responsibility for the scandal.
In unsworn testimony before the day's Upper House Budget Committee session, Saeki said Sanwa Bank's top management was not involved in obtaining confidential information about the ministry's 1995 inspection of Toyo Trust Banking & Co. and denied that his bank had even contemplated a merger with Toyo Trust. "I never gave any instructions (for Sanwa employees to obtain such information)," Saeki claimed, adding that the bank has launched an internal investigation into the matter.