The chief executive of Japan's biggest bank has pulled out of Saudi Arabia's financial conference, dubbed "Davos in the Desert," joining a growing list of withdrawals following the killing of a government critic at the kingdom's consulate in Turkey.
MUFG Bank Ltd. CEO Kanetsugu Mike won't attend the Future Investment Initiative conference that begins Tuesday, spokesman Kazunobu Takahara said Sunday by phone, without giving a reason for his withdrawal. Eiichi Yoshikawa, deputy president of the unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., will go instead, Takahara said.
Mike, who was scheduled to speak at the event, becomes the latest top official to cancel after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the country's leadership, was killed inside its Istanbul consulate. Others, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, withdrew even before the kingdom acknowledged over the weekend that The Washington Post contributor had indeed died, characterizing it as accidental.