bank

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP: Banks must share responsibility for funding defective construction

With the Diet out of session, the House of Representatives Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Committee on December 21 discussed falsified quake-resistance data of apartment buildings.

Japanese Communist Party representative Kokuta Keiji called on the government to ask banks to share responsibility by cancelling a part of the debts. Construction and Transport Minister Kitagawa Kazuo said that study on this possibility should be made.

Kokuta pointed out that banks doubly gain from charging interest on loans to the offender corporations as well as on housing loans to the victim inhabitants. He demanded that the government orders banks to at least give up collecting interest payments.

While suggesting the legal difficulty such measures involve, Kitagawa said he would consult with the Financial Services Agency.

Kokuta also pointed out that the bank loans drove Kimura Construction into bankruptcy. He criticized major banks for funding the offenders' businesses and then rushing to collect on their own loans. He stated that banks' self-centered behavior has narrowed the possibility of compensating the victims for their damages.

In the committee directors' meeting on the same day, Kokuta demanded that the committee summon Kojima Susumu, president of Huser Ltd. that ordered construction, as a witness under oath, and four people as unsworned witnesses. The Democratic Party of Japan made the same demands as the JCP, but the ruling parties refused.
-Akahata, December 22, 2005