Japan Press Weekly

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2017 January 25 - 31 [POLITICS]

JCP Koike: PM Abe is held responsible for retired bureaucrats’ parachuting scandal

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira on January 25 in his interpellation at the Upper House plenary session took up the issue of the Education Ministry illegally helping a retired bureaucrat obtain a position at a private university, demanding that the government look into the overall picture of this practice.

Referring to news reports that the ministry and the university in question had made sure their stories would be consistent, Koike pointed to the possibility that the ministry has systematically used its good offices to help its officials find positions at private universities upon retirement.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo took the stance of leaving it up to the ministry to look into the issue and to implement prevention measures, while admitting that this incident has eroded the public trust.

As a main factor behind this issue, the JCP parliamentarian cited the fact that the first Abe government in 2007 revised the National Public Service Law to deregulate the rules in place to prevent the parachuting of retired government officials into private sector posts.

“As the JCP pointed out at that time, the revision of the law opened the way to increased collusion among politicians, bureaucrats, and businesses,” he stressed.

Past related article:
> Education Ministry illegally offers ‘parachuting’ support to its retired officials [January 19-23, 2017]