Toshihiko Fukui

The three, including the chief of the section in charge of issuing bank notes, obtained four such new notes between Nov. 4 and 22 by exchanging them for their own notes.

The section chief and another official, who was found to have illegally obtained 47 such notes over a period of more than 10 years and kept them in a photo album, were discharged while the third employee was suspended for a week, the central bank said.

Bank notes with special characteristics such as peculiar numbers like 111111 and 123456 are in strong demand among collectors.

In addition, five Kobe branch officials and two at the BOJ's head office in Tokyo were punished with pay cuts or other penalties for involvement in the case or for poor supervision, the BOJ said.

The switching of the notes was detected during a BOJ investigation following a similar case at the bank's Maebashi branch in Gunma Prefecture last month.

"This is extremely regrettable since the central bank is strongly requested to be strict about its duties," BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said. "We will do our utmost to regain trust by thoroughly implementing our public responsibilities and abiding by the basics of our management."

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 25, 2004
(C) All rights reserved