KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- Hawaii's most senior senator said on Thursday he did not try to influence federal regulators over a decision to bail out Central Pacific Bank.

A recent story in the Washington Post raised the question, pointing out that Sen. Daniel Inouye helped to found the bank and that the senator's staff placed a call on its behalf.

Inouye first acquired CPB stock when he was young, as one of the bank incorporators.

Inouye said he has nothing to hide. The senator said he only just learned of the staff inquiry a week ago.

"I had no part in it, really. I made it a point throughout my career not to have anything that would even suggest conflict of interest," Inouye said.

In his 50 years in Congress, the only stock Inouye said he has owns is Central Pacific.

"I don't have General Motors or General Electric or General Dynamic, Norfolk Grummond, because as chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the Defense Appropriations Committee I am privy to certain information that would make me a billionaire, but I don't do those things," Inouye said.

The staff inquiry to federal regulators was said to simply check on the status of the bank's application. The bank was founded by WWII veterans.

"During the war they wiped out the Japanese banks and the old folks had nowhere to go. So, we thought it was about time we established something that could accommodate these old folks," Inouye said.

Inouye laughed, saying that if people think he did have a hand in the bank bailout he did a lousy job because the bank stock back in November was $60. Now, he said it is less than $4.