TOKYO, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Toshihiko Fukui has been under growing pressure to resign over his investment in a controversial equity fund, two weeks after the revelation of the issue.
According to a newspaper poll published on Tuesday, 67 percent of respondents said Fukui should quit his post because of his 10 million-yen (87,000 U.S. dollars) investment to the scandal-hit Murakami Fund.
Seventy percent said that the scandal has impaired the credibility of the central bank's monetary policy, according to the Asahi Shimbun poll conducted over the weekend.
Earlier this month, Fukui admitted in a parliament session that he had personally invested 10 million yen in 1999 to a fund established by Yoshiaki Murakami, who was arrested in June for alleged violation of securities law.
Though the investment happened before Fukui took the post as central bank governor in March 2003, it was not until February 2006 that he sold out the fund, when a scandal involving Internet firm Livedoor broke and rumors about Murakami's possible arrest started in the financial industry.
Last week, Fukui revealed that he had made a profit of 14.73 million yen (128,000 dollars) on his original investment of 10 million yen made in 1999, further irritating the public, since ordinary citizens have earned close to nothing on bank deposits under the BOJ's near zero rate policy during the same period.
Over the weekend, Japan's four opposition parties called on Fukui to step down to take responsibility for the controversy surrounding his investment.
In a joint appeal to the government, the Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party said that the BOJ chief should "recognize his duty and immediately resign in order to recover external and internal trust in the central bank."
On Monday, the leader of the New Komeito party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, also suggested that Fukui's action was unacceptable.
"Governor Fukui himself should decide whether he will resign (over the controversial investment) over his own responsibility," Kyodo News quoted Takenori Kanzaki as saying in a speech in Osaka.
The Bank of Japan said that Fukui's investment did not violate the bank's internal regulations. Fukui himself has said that he does not intend to resign.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and other Cabinet members are also backing Fukui, a most respected figure in Japan's financial circle for guiding Japan out of a decade of stubborn deflation and back to healthy growth.
Koizumi reiterated on Monday he wanted Fukui to continue fulfilling his duties. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said earlier there were no calls from the ruling coalition for him to resign. "The central bank stands on the public's confidence, and the governor needs to make efforts to regain that," Abe said.
The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), Japan's biggest business lobby also showed support. "We believe Fukui will adopt the appropriate policy at the appropriate moment," chairman Fujio Mitarai said at a news conference, "We trust the BOJ's policies."
With growing public concerns, the central bank is planning to review its rules on the disclosure of assets held by BOJ executives and their financial transactions.
Fukui, on his own part, is under more public checking. A week after submitting documents about his investment in the Murakami Fund to the parliament, he on Tuesday presented data on his financial assets and other information to the House of Representatives Financial Affairs Committee. Enditem
