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Japanese premier under

fire over banking

reform chief's scandal

TOKYO: Japan's media on Saturday heaped blame on Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi for his choice of banking reform chief, who was forced to resign on Friday after suggesting he would broker lenient treatments in bank inspections.

"Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi should be held accountable for having appointed (Michio) Ochi to the central position in public administration over banking institutions," the influential Asahi Shimbun said in its editorial Saturday.

The 70-year-old chairman of the Financial Reconstruction Commission ignited an uproar by telling bank managers to contact him if state inspections were too tough.

"If the Financial Supervisory Agency's inspection is strict, please let me know without any hesitation," he said in a tape leaked by the opposition Democratic Party Thursday.

"If you give me documents and other materials, I will give it utmost consideration."

The Asahi said Ochi's remarks "surprised hardly anyone" because Ochi was known to have borrowed money from banks without any collateral, received political donations from them and obviously "leaned toward" the industry.

"In reshuffling his cabinet (in October), Obuchi did not demonstrate much enthusiasm for putting the right men and women in the right places.

"We cannot help but fell that the prime minister made the same mistake when he appointed Shingo Nishimura as the parliamentary vice minister for defence," the daily said.

Nishimura resigned just two weeks after the October 5 reshuffle for outraging public opinion by advocating nuclear weapons and saying defence meant preventing foreigners raping Japanese women.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a leading economic daily, also criticised the premier.

"There were other politicians (than Ochi) who are well versed in financial administration. In fact, we demanded at the time (of the cabinet reshuffle) that Hakuo Yanagisawa stay in the job."

Yanagisawa, widely perceived as incorruptible, earned the reputation of pushing hard for the reconstruction of Japan's battered banking industry.

"Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi cannot escape his political responsibility of putting the priority on the intraparty balance and appointing Ochi.

"The Ochi problem has put a heavy burden on Japan's financial system. We have a doubt if Japan's financial sector can really be reformed," the Nihon Keizai said.

Opposition parties, upbeat following the resignation, are demanding Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi also step down.

"During the budget and other sessions, we will accuse Obuchi firmly of his responsibility as the appointer," Yukio Hatoyama, president of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters Friday.ÑAFP