Japan MOF official arrested for suspected assault -NHK (updated)
20/05/2022 16:52
(Adds comments from finance minister in 5-6th paragraphs)
TOKYO, May 20 (Reuters) - Japanese police on Friday arrested
a senior finance ministry official involved in coordinating
policies with the central bank for possible assault charges,
public broadcaster NHK reported.
Heihachiro Ono, 56, deputy vice minister for policy planning
and co-ordination at the Ministry of Finance (MOF), was
intoxicated at the time of the arrest shortly after midnight,
NHK said, citing investigative sources.
He was accused of hitting and kicking another passenger on
the subway, it said.
Tokyo police and Japan's top government spokesman, Hirokazu
Matsuno, declined to confirm the arrest, reported widely by
local media.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said his ministry was still
trying to confirm details of the incident, but added that the
reported arrest was "highly regrettable."
"I would like to offer my apology," Suzuki told a news
conference held on Friday after attending a G7 finance leaders'
meeting in Germany.
Ono, a career bureaucrat, usually attends the first day of
the Bank of Japan (BOJ) board's two-day policy-setting meetings
as a finance ministry representative. Government representatives
express opinions at the meetings and can delay a vote when they
have issues with the board's decision.
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto, Ju-min Park in Tokyo;
Additional reporting by Leika Kihara in Bonn; Editing by
Chang-Ran Kim and Stephen Coates)
((ju-min.park@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
ju-min.park.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))