Prosecutors apparently have questioned UFJ Bank President Takamune Okihara over the bank's obstruction of government inspections in 2003 by allegedly hiding vital documents, investigative sources said Thursday.
The Financial Services Agency has filed a criminal complaint against UFJ Bank, the core banking unit of Osaka-based UFJ Holdings Inc.
Former UFJ Bank President Masashi Teranishi was earlier questioned by prosecutors about his role in allegedly obstructing the inspections that began in August 2003. Teranishi is believed to have denied being involved in the suspected crime.
Former UFJ Bank Vice President Kazuyoshi Okazaki, and two other former executives, Sen Hayakawa and Masayuki Inaba, were arrested Dec. 1 for allegedly blocking the inspections, in violation of the Banking Law.
Okazaki, Hayakawa and Inaba have admitted they ordered bank employees to move 110 items, including cardboard boxes containing financial documents on UFJ borrowers, to other rooms to hide them from FSA officers between August and October 2003, the prosecutors said.
Under the Banking Law, individuals convicted of obstructing FSA inspections can be sentenced to prison terms of up to one year and fines of up to 3 million yen. A corporation could be fined up to 200 million yen.