Prosecution authorities have decided to indict two former Finance Ministry bank inspectors on charges of accepting entertainment totaling more than 3 million yen from major commercial banks other four already named in the ongoing scandal, informed sources said Monday.
The two former bank inspectors, Koichi Miyakawa, 53, and Toshimi Taniuchi, 49, were arrested last month for allegedly accepting bribes from Asahi Bank, Sanwa Bank, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and Hokkaido Takushoku Bank.
On Monday afternoon, the men were also indicted on charges of accepting 9.25 million yen in miscellaneous bribes -- ranging from entertainment to a discount on the price of a condominium -- between 1993 and 1997. Prosecutors have raided the offices of the four banks to search for evidence. None of the banks' workers has so far been arrested.
The decision to serve the two former officials with additional bribe charges is expected to widen the scandal by further involving three or four more major commercial banks, including Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Sumitomo. The two were dismissed from the Finance Ministry on Monday for allegedly accepting the bribes in return for favorable treatment in banking inspections.
Miyakawa joined the ministry's inspection department in 1992 and Taniuchi in 1994. The four banks are believed to have bribed the two officials to obtain confidential information about ministry inspections. In return for the bribes, the inspectors allegedly did various other favors for the banks, including fudging reports of the banks' bad loans.