Japan Press Weekly

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2012 April 4 - 10 [POLITICS]

AIJ wines and dines pension fund officials

Officials of the National Pension Fund have been wined and dined by AIJ Investment Advisory Co., the company which was recently found to have lost close to 200 billion yen in smaller companies’ pension assets. This was discovered on April 3 at a House of Councilors financial committee meeting.

The committee on that day had AIJ President Asakawa Kazuhiko give unsworn testimony.

Japanese Communist Party representative Daimon Mikishi revealed that AIJ has yearly spent more than 10 million yen for so-called “social” expenses. Asked by Daimon if his company feels the need to entertain officials of the National Pension Fund, Asakawa answered, “Yes, of course.”

Daimon pointed out that National Pension Fund employees are considered quasi-public servants so that wining and dining them is prohibited by law.

He also disclosed that a director of the National Pension Fund in charge of asset management is a former official of the government’s Social Insurance Agency.