Japan Press Weekly

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2008 March 26 - April 1 [TOKYO]

Tokyo to spend 40 billion yen for failing bank it founded

A supplementary budget to use tax money amounting to 40 billion yen to help rebuild the failing ShinGinko Tokyo bank was approved by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on March 28 by the majority vote of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties.

The Japanese Communist Party, the Seikatusha Network, and the Democratic Party of Japan voted against the plan. The DPJ had originally supported the founding of ShinGinko Tokyo.

At a committee meeting on March 26, Japanese Communist Party representative Furudate Kazunori criticized Governor Ishihara Shintaro for refusing to accept responsibility for the bank’s failure, stating, “The governor is responsible for wasting 100 billion yen in tax money.”

Furudate said, “The governor is undermining parliamentary democracy by requesting tax money for additional funding for a failing bank without explaining why the injection is needed or providing the legislature with any information as to how bank can be successfully reconstructed.”

He went on to say, “Residents’ opposition to the use of tax money amounting to 40 billion yen is growing rapidly. If the governor still insists on using tax money to provide additional funding for the bank, he should resign and hold an election to allow the electorate to pass their judgment on the proposal. Those parties which had supported the establishment of the bank should also follow what the public says.”

After the metropolitan assembly plenary session, asked by reporters to comment on an opinion poll in which more than 70 percent of respondents expressed opposition to any additional fund injection, Ishihara said to the press, “A politician should not care about opinion polls.”
- Akahata March 27, 29, 2008