Japan Press Weekly

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2017 June 14 - 20 [POLITICS]

State minister of Education hints at cracking down on whistleblower over ‘Kake Gakuen’-related document leak

State Minister of Education Yoshiie Hiroyuki on June 13 at an Upper House committee meeting hinted at punishing ministry officials who leaked internal documents related to the “Kake Gakuen” scandal.

It is unacceptable for government authorities to oppress public workers intending to do the right thing in the public interest against unjust administration.

The Education Ministry is conducting investigations into documents which reportedly indicate pressure was applied by the Cabinet Office to the ministry in regard to the issue of a new veterinary school run by PM Abe’s close friend.

At the meeting of the House of Councilors Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Committee, Liberal Party lawmaker Mori Yuko stated that there are concerns that the ministry’s probe aims to identify and penalize whistleblowers. Mori said, “Workers who made public the documents in question should fall into a category of whistleblower. Will the ministry protect their rights?”

Yoshiie in reply said that considering the issue from a general point of view, it is highly likely that ministry workers’ act of passing on non-public administrative information to people outside the ministry without permission constitutes a violation of the National Public Service Act.

Yoshiie has never admitted to the existence of “Kake Gakuen” scandal-related documents. It is irrational for him to punish the leakage of documents which according to him do not exist.

Past related articles:
> JCP Koike: Gov’t decision to investigate Education Ministry’s internal documents over ‘Kake Gakuen’ scandal is essential [ June 10, 2017]
> Opinion poll on ‘Kake Gakuen’ scandal: 70% are not convinced by gov’t explanation [June 6, 2017]