Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda on Monday hinted the government will give up a controversial proposal to remove a 12-year-old ban on Cabinet ministers engaging in stock transactions.
"There are no good reasons (for authorizing stock trading by Cabinet ministers), and there is no need for us to devise such measures," the government's top spokesman said.
With the government grasping for straws over a solution to the economy, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stirred controversy in political circles last week when he asked Cabinet ministers to "consider" scrapping the current ban on their engaging in stock deals. The plan was originally proposed on Nov. 27 by Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa, who said it would revive the nation's stock markets.
The rule has been in place since 1989, when the political community was rocked by the Recruit share-for-favors scandal. In the incident, several dozen politicians, including some Cabinet ministers, were found to have received bargain-rate unlisted shares in Recruit Cosmos Co., an arm of Recruit Co. The shares later soared in value, producing huge capital gains. Public anger over the scandal forced the resignation in 1989 of then Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and his Cabinet.