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Ex-finance chief Nakagawa was witnessed misbehaving at Vatican Museum+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) BELGRADE, Feb. 21_(Kyodo) _ Former Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa misbehaved while visiting the Vatican Museum immediately after his ridiculed post-Group of Seven press conference in Rome on Feb. 14 that led to his resignation, people concerned at the Vatican said Friday. Nakagawa at one point climbed over a barrier around a statue of the Trojan priest Laocoon, causing an alarm to go off, and touched some art objects that are not supposed to be touched, they said, adding however that the museum will not raise a protest. Nakagawa visited the museum in the afternoon with some senior officials from the Japanese Finance Ministry for about one and a half hours. They were accompanied by museum officials. The museum officials apparently did not find Nakagawa's behavior a serious problem at the time, according to those concerned. Nakagawa resigned Tuesday after drawing media attention for slurring his words and seemingly dozing off during a press briefing held after the G-7 financial chiefs' meeting over the deteriorating world economy. His behavior raised suspicions that he may have been drunk at the time. Copyright ? 2009 Kyodo News International, Inc. |