Japan Press Weekly

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2009 June 10 - 16 [SCANDAL]

Senior health ministry official arrested for involvement in abuse of postage discount system

The Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating the scandal involving the abuse of a postage discount system for the disabled, on June 14 arrested a Ministry of Labor, Health, and Welfare Ministry official on suspicion of issuing a false official document enabling a self-proclaimed organization for the disabled to use the discount system.

In early June, 2004, when Muraki Atsuko, director-general of the Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau of the ministry was head of the Policy Planning Division of the Department of Health and Welfare for Persons with Disabilities, she allegedly ordered her staff to create a certification document and issue it to a group called “Rin no Kai” even though it had nothing to do with the welfare of the disabled and didn’t meet the requirements for using the postage discount system.

Regarding the postal scandal, unsubstantiated organization Rin no Kai representative Kurasawa Kunio was arrested on suspicion of violating the Postal Services Act because he abused the postage discount system by submitting a false certification document to Japan Post Service Co., Ltd. for the purpose of undertaking mailing services at lower costs for companies which have nothing to do with services for the disabled.

Muraki reportedly denied all charges.

Kamimura Tsutomu, a ministry employee who worked under Muraki and was arrested on the charge of falsifying an official document, reportedly admitted that he was ordered by her to create a forged certification.

Kurasawa also reportedly has admitted to receiving a false certification document from Muraki.

Concerning the issuance of the certificate, Muraki’s former supervisor, a retired head of the Department of Health and Welfare for Persons with Disabilities, stated that a lawmaker asked him a favor in February, 2004. Kurasawa reportedly identified himself as a secretary of this lawmaker and pressured the Welfare Ministry to issue the certification document.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on June 15 said to reporters, “If the charge is true, it is very serious. Rigorous investigation and fair judicial judgment should be carried out. Some mentioned a politician’s involvement. Apart from judicial investigation, as the Diet, it is necessary to expose all pertinent information. This should encourage the judicial authority to make a proper judgment.”