Japan Press Weekly

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2011 April 13 - 19 [POLITICS]

Ex-METI officials parachute into not only TEPCO but other power companies

Shiokawa Tatsuya, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives, has recently revealed that six retirees of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry are currently in executive posts at six electric power companies, including the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

According to Shiokawa, a total of 45 ex-METI officials have so far taken positions as board members of 10 power companies: six each to the Tohoku and Kyushu electric power companies; five each to the Hokkaido, Tokyo, Hokuriku, and Kansai electric power companies; four to the Okinawa electric power company; and three each to the Chubu, Chugoku, and Shikoku electric power companies.

Out of the 45 retired high-ranking METI officials, six are in positions of responsibility in the Tokyo, Kansai, Hokkaido, Hokuriku, Shikoku, and Okinawa power companies. All of these firms promote nuclear power.

Parachuting from the METI, which guides and supervises nuclear safety, to the power companies, which are subject to the METI’s guidance and supervision, is a clear case of political corruption involving conflict of interest. Learning lessons from the Fukushima nuclear crisis, the government must prohibit this practice.

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Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio at a press conference on April 18 announced that the government will discourage high-ranking bureaucrats of the Economy, Trade, and Industry Ministry, including those of the Natural Resources and Energy Agency and the Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency, from obtaining executive posts in Tokyo Electric Power Co. after their retirement.