TOKYO, Jan. 29 -- A Finance Ministry official has been found dead and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has accepted the resignation of another top official in the latest fallout from a government bribery scandal. Hashimoto says today he will accept the resignation of the top Finance Ministry bureaucrat as police investigate the suspected suicide of a lower official in the ministry's banking bureau.
Police say Yoichi Otsuki ('Yoh-EE-chee Oh-TSOO-kee'), a financial transaction officer in the ministry, was found Tuesday night by his wife after apparently having hung himself with his necktie. Earlier that day the head of the ministry he worked in, Hiroshi Mitsuzuka ('Hee-ROH-shee Mee-TSOO-zoo-kah'), resigned because of the bribery scandal resulting in the arrest of two lower officials from his powerful ministry. Takeshi Komura ('Tah-KEH-shee Koh-MOO-rah'), the top ministry bureaucrat, and a deputy Toshiro Muto ('Toh-SHEE-roh Moo-TOH'), director of the minister's secretariat, submitted their resignations on the same day. They did this to take responsibility for the arrests of the two inspectors suspected of taking bribes from banks. The officials were arrested on suspicion of taking bribes from banks. In exchange they allegedly gave tip-offs about ministry inspections of those banks. A government official said Hashimoto will accept Komura's resignation but retain Muto until more details of the bribery scandal are unveiled. The scandal hits Japan as the economy remains becalmed by consumers unwilling to spend, fearing the consequences of a mass of corporate bad debt held by shaky financial institutions. ---
Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
