The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office on Thursday arrested a Finance Ministry official and an inspector from the nation's securities watchdog who allegedly took bribes from Nomura Securities Co. in the form of wining and dining, sources said.
The ministry official was identified as Takashi Sakakibara, 38, an assistant chief of the general affairs division of the ministry's Securities Bureau. Also arrested was Toshio Miyano, an inspector of the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission.
In January, two ministry officials, Koichi Miyakawa, 53, head of the financial inspectors' office, and Toshimi Taniuchi, 48, an assistant chief of the control division in the same department, were arrested on suspicion of taking millions of yen in bribes in the form of entertainment from major banks in exchange for tipoffs on ministry inspections.
Sakakibara is described as a fast-track elitist official, unlike Miyakawa and Taniuchi, who remain in custody, the sources said. The officials are suspected of granting favors to Nomura in connection with its plan to introduce new financial instruments, they said.
The sources alleged that the officials gave favorable interpretations of the Securities and Exchange Law in introducing the financial instruments because they may have had problems with the law.