The corruption-plagued Bank of Japan has set up an in-house committee to discuss matters concerning legal compliance by its officials, the central bank said March 27.
Led by Senior Deputy Gov. Sakuya Fujiwara, a former journalist, the panel includes an executive director, the audit office chief and an outside lawyer. The committee is to first examine the adequacy of operations at BOJ divisions that deal with financial institutions, Executive Director Takayuki Kamoshida said.
Results of the discussions may be disclosed to the public, if judged necessary, Kamoshida said. The committee will not handle the ongoing internal investigation into improper conduct of BOJ officials with financial institutions, he added.
The creation of the committee and internal probe were triggered by the corruption scandal involving BOJ officials that recently surfaced. The committee is a direct response to the March 11 arrest of a senior official accused of accepting excessive entertainment favors from major banks in return for leaking sensitive information.
The arrest led to the resignation of Gov. Yasuo Matsushita and Senior Deputy Gov. Toshihiko Fukui.
Also, next Tuesday the BOJ will abolish the life-long position of "honorary advisers," which has been granted to ex-governors, Kamoshida said. Five former BOJ governors have held the position since 1980. The current honorary advisers are Satoshi Sumita and Yasushi Mieno, both predecessors of Matsushita. They have the privilege of using BOJ offices, chauffeured cars and assistants. Annual costs for these privileges cannot be calculated separately, a press officer said.