Japan wants Tepco control in exchange for taxpayers' money

Nearly $9 billion in additional support has been approved for Tepco by the Japan's trade ministrey to help compensate victims of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

However, the government would not go ahead with a plan to inject tax money into utility unless it got adequate management say.

Aside from the added 690 billion yen or $8.9 billion in compensation support from a state-backed fund, the government has been planning to inject about 1 trillion yen in taxpayers' money into the utility, also known as Tepco, in what would be one of the world's biggest bailouts outside the banking sector.

But Trade Minister Yukio Edano, who also holds the energy portfolio, told reporters the public fund injection would not go ahead unless the government got adequate voting rights.

"If Tepco submits a business plan seeking a capital injection (from the government) without sufficient voting rights relative to the size of injection, I have absolutely no plans to approve it as long as I am in this position ," Edano told Tepco President Toshio Nishizawa in front of reporters.

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