The Tokyo Summary Court fined Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank 500,000 yen July 28 for violating the Banking Law, immediately after receiving a summary indictment against the major commercial bank from prosecutors earlier in the day.

The fine is the maximum allowed by the Banking Law. The moves came in response to a criminal complaint filed August 2 by the Finance Ministry.

The ministry accused DKB of submitting false information to ministry inspectors regarding the bank's loans to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist. It was the first time the ministry has taken such action for a Banking Law violation. The ministry also named four former DKB executives in the complaint, including former Vice President Tsuneo Uchida, the official considered to have been responsible for covering up dubious loans to sokaiya Ryuchi Koike during a ministry inspection in October 1994.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office, however, on July 28 decided against indicting the four people in completing its investigation into the DKB scandal. In addition to the complaint, the ministry plans to penalize DKB over the dubious loans by invoking Article 27 of the Banking Law, which bars banks from undertaking actions that hurt the public interest, according to ministry sources.