ELUSIVE ASSETS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25964, 3 October 1945, Page 5

ELUSIVE ASSETS

SEIZED BANKS IN JAPAN LEADERS DENY KNOWLEDGE TOKIO, Ocl. 1. General MacArthur’s economic chief, Colonel Kramer, said the Bank of Japan would open to-morrow if the Japanese co-operated fully in locating the assets of seized institutions. The Associated Press correspondent says the bank officers protested that they had had insufficient time to meet General MacArthur’s demand. The governor of the Bank of Japan, Viscount Shibusawa, and other leading Japanese financial figures, denied that the bank held any foreign money, and declared that they had no knowledge of any possible hiding place. They said they had not controlled the financial activities of field military commanders, who had the power either to sell their looted assets and place the proceeds in a special fund of the Finance Ministry or to keep the assets for themselves. Shibusawa declared that he was not aware of reported transfers of gold and currency from the Philippines to Japan. The bankers denied knowledge of full details of the Imperial Household funds or where the Imperial gold deposits might be located, but disclosed that the household owned approximately a 25 per cent, interest in the Bank of Japan. The Japanese Government owned 50 per cent. The newspaper Asahi reported that Kenji Kodama, former head of the Central China Development Company, one of the concerns that has been closed, has been appointed the new president of the Japanese Central Liaison Office, which passes on to appropriate departments General MaxArt.hur’s directives.