Government must take responsibility for falsified pension record scandal

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Government must take responsibility for falsified pension record scandal

It has been revealed that in the government-managed employee pension system, more than 1.4 million accounts have been tampered with by the Social Insurance Agency. The discovered cases are without doubt only the tip of the iceberg.

Fabricated by government agency

The cost of employee pension premiums is equally shared by the employer and the employees. The amounts of premiums are determined based on employees’ monthly salaries. But in some of the falsified cases, the amounts of workers’ monthly incomes were smaller than the actual amounts. This means that the amounts of future pension payment will be lower than they should be, even though employees are paying the amounts of premiums as required by the SIA.

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Masuzoe Yoichi acknowledged that some SIA staff members had been involved in the falsification of pension records and said that it is likely that there has been the agency’s organizational involvement in the falsification. There have been whistleblowers that have exposed that some SIA employees in managerial positions knew about the falsification. This is a fraud committed by the government.

The government’s responsibility for social security programs is called into question. The root cause of the problem is successive government stances, which were only concerned in raising premium collection rates with no interest in protecting pensioners’ rights to receive benefits in order to ensure their living expenses after retirement.

Government cannot disclaim responsibility for the resolution

Receiving social security services is the citizens’ constitutional right. The government must accept the responsibility to defend this right and carry out the social insurance administration diligently.

It should drastically reinforce its structure to provide information to the people and swiftly respond to their questions.

The plan to privatize the SIA should be canceled since it will give the government a chance to duck its responsibility to investigate and properly address and resolve the issue. - Akahata, October 12, 2008