July 26: Japan's Finance ministry Friday filed a criminal complaint against Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Ltd. (DKB) for allegedly making false reports over pay-offs to a corporate extortionist, officials said. The complaint filed with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is the first to be made against one of the nation's 10 commercial banks for violation of the banking law. DKB allegedly falsified reports submitted during a ministry inspection in October 1994 to conceal problem loans to "sokaiya" Ryuichi Koike. The ministry said it would take legal action against DKB and four senior officials for alleged breaches of banking legislation. Former DKB Vice President Tsuneo Uchida, along with former managing director Yasuyuki Terasawa, former sales department director Michiyoshi Kusajuma and former man aging director Hiroshi Inotsume were arrested early June for their alleged roles in the pay-off scandal. A ministry official said the legal action was over DKB's failure to present it With a list of loans to large-sized borrowers.BMW world sales rise in first halfGerman automaker BMW's sales jumped to around 350,000 for the year's first half, up 1 percent from the same period last year, the Munich-based group announced. It said the figure for this year's first six months was a record for it for a first half. In fact, the group's monthly sales were at record levels for every month in the first half, it said.In Germany, registrations for the period were up by 3 percent to more than 120,000 BMW vehicles, although the German car market was off by 3 percent, the announcement said. The BMW market share for the half-year in Germany was more than 6.5 per cent against 6.1 for the first half last year.Warning on corporate governanceEast Asia risks losing its attraction for foreign investors if the region relaxes corporate governance standards to spearhead capital market development, a conference was told. Corporate governance is the system by which companies are directed and controlled And concerns the effectiveness and accountability of directors to their shareholders. "To remain as an attractive market for international investors and thereby sustain rapid economic growth in the whole East Asian region, there must be good corporate governance..," Singapore Finance Minister Richard Hu said.Hu told a conference organised by the Stock Exchange of Singapore that the rapid expansion of regional capital markets had created a temptation to lower standards of corporate governance to spearhead further development. "If we do so, standards will fall and the risk of investing in the region increase," he warned. "In the long-run, the region will lose its investment rating and at traction among foreign investors.
