Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's credit card details were not stolen by computer hackers who allegedly infiltrated the World Economic Forum, as was claimed by a British newspaper, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
With Mori having attended his first WEF meeting just last month, his data could not have been stolen as the details taken were those from last year's WEF meetings, Shinzo Abe, deputy chief Cabinet secretary, said at a news conference.
Mori did not even present his credit card details to the WEF when he attended the group's annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, in January, Abe said.
The Independent newspaper reported Monday that computer hackers had obtained the credit card data of the world's top political and business leaders, including Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
A WEF spokesman said in Geneva the same day that details allegedly taken from its computer were those relating to some 1,400 people who participated in meetings before this year's summit.