Industry minister Shoichi Nakagawa criticized the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan on Friday for urging Daiei Inc. to decide by early next week whether to seek the government-backed entity's help in its rehabilitation.
"The public entity should not take such action," Nakagawa, minister of economy, trade and industry, told a news conference in which he made public the IRCJ's letter of ultimatum to the struggling supermarket chain.
According to the letter dated Wednesday, the IRCJ urged Daiei to stop selecting sponsors by itself and to let the IRCJ take the lead in the selection. It told Daiei to decide by Tuesday.