Akagi file shows bureau chief ordered data falsification : The Asahi Shimbun asahi.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asahi.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Masako Akagi speaks to reporters in Osaka on May 6 while holding a document she received from the government over the record left by her late husband. (The Asahi Shimbun)
The government has acknowledged the existence of a key document related to the Finance Ministry’s falsification of official documents over the dubious sale of state-owned land to Moritomo Gakuen, a private educational institution.
The “Akagi file,” as the document is known, refers to a record of events kept by Toshio Akagi, an official at the ministry’s Kinki Local Finance Bureau, who committed suicide in 2018 in distress over the role he was ordered to play in the falsifications.
Japan s Information Disclosure Law, which vests the sovereign public with a legally enforceable right of access to central government files, took effect on April 1, 2001.
In what was believed to be a last-minute rush to circumvent this new system, many government ministries and agencies destroyed mountains of official documents during fiscal 2000 that ended March 31, 2001.
According to findings later released by Access-Info Clearinghouse Japan, an incorporated nonprofit organization, the volume of documents ditched by the Finance Ministry and the Environment Ministry was more than double that of the previous fiscal year, while the volume discarded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries surged 21-fold.
Japanese government acknowledges existence of papers on document-tampering Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site. If you re not sure how to activate it, please refer to this site: https://www.enable-javascript.com/
The construction site for an elementary school of Moritomo Gakuen in Osaka in April 2017 | REUTERS
Jiji May 6, 2021
The Japanese government on Thursday acknowledged the existence of documents related to the tampering of official records about the dubious discount sale of state land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen.
The government plans to submit the documents to Osaka District Court on June 23 for a hearing in a lawsuit filed by the widow of Toshio Akagi, a former Finance Ministry bureaucrat who committed suicide in 2018 over the tampering scandal.
Masako Akagi shows photos of her late husband, Toshio, in an interview. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The government plans to admit to the existence of a file compiled by a Finance Ministry official who killed himself after being ordered to falsify data. But whether the contents of the document are released in a lawsuit filed by his widow is another matter.
Masako Akagi, 50, whose husband, Toshio, committed suicide in March 2018, is seeking a total of about 112 million yen ($1 million) in compensation from the central government and Nobuhisa Sagawa, who was director-general of the Finance Ministry’s Financial Bureau when the falsification orders were given.