BANK OF JAPAN

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23321, 3 October 1945, Page 4

BANK OF JAPAN

Conditional Reopening Locating Seized Assets By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn -Copyright TOKIO, October 1. General MacArthur’s economic chief, Colonel Kramer, said the Bank of Japan would open tomorrow if the Japanese cooperated fully in locating the assets of the seized institutions. The correspondent of the Associated Press says bank officers protested that they 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 a possible hiding place. They said they had not controlled the financial activities field. Military commanders had power either to sell their looted assets or place the proceeds in a special fund of the Finance Ministry* or keep assets for themselves.

Viscount Shibusawa declared that he was not aware of the reported transfers of gold and currency from the Philippines to Japan. Bankers denied knowledge of the full details of the Imperial household funds or where Imperial gold deposits might be located, but disclosed that the household owned approximately a 35 per cent interest in the Bank of Japan. The Japanese Government owned 50 per cent. "Asahi Shim bun” reported that Kenji Kodama, former head of • the Central China Development Company, one of the firms closed, has been appointed the new President of the Japanese Central Liaison Office, which passed on to the appropriate departments General MacArthur’s directives.