The Finance Ministry fired two officials Tuesday in connection with their alleged involvement in a bribery case.
The dismissed are Takashi Sakakibara, former deputy director of the Securities Bureau's general affairs section, and Toshio Miyano, a former official of the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission.
The pair were charged in March with accepting bribes in the form of wining and dining from financial institutions. They later owned up to the misdeeds in court hearings and ministry interviews, ministry officials said. Five other officials, who were in supervisory positions at the time of the wrongdoings, were given penalties ranging from a reprimand to a three-month salary cut of 20 percent.