Ex-senior education ministry official gets suspended term over bribe

A former senior education ministry official has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison, suspended for five years, for accepting a favor from a private university in 2017 in return for helping it secure a government subsidy.

An "official", receiving a salary for the public and entrusted with the public welfare, gets a non sentence for fraud with subsidies.

While desperate students who filed forms fraudulently to get pandemic business subsidies are led away in cuffs and paraded on the news.

The justice of the Japanese courts assigns punishments according to the social status of the charged.

All had pleaded not guilty.

plead guilty, suspended sentence, plead not guilty, prison.

Another day, another case of corruption in Japan inc.

BRIBERY, or what they call it in Japan Gift Money, or Thank you Money,

Not a single day passes buy without someone or many getting the beautifully decorated white envelop.

It's in the culture of doing business, or trying to get ahead, for many it's the norm, like it or not this is how things get done. and when someone flags it it becomes a Bribery.

A slap of the wrist again. Oh, that's right, a different rule for the elites.

A suspended sentence??? Might as well give him a nod and a wink. Not even a fine. What a joke. The Ministry of Education is corrupt from all the favors and kickbacks for turning the blind eye to dodgy practices such as outsourcing, textbook selection and student enrollments to name a few. I just wonder if this case came to light because the Ministry of Justice wanted a bit of the action. Suspended sentence for pleading not guilty - right, that'll teach them a lesson - for not cutting us in.

The justice of the Japanese courts assigns punishments according to the social status of the charged.

This totem pole of "justice" exists in every society. A revolution in thought and social practice is what has been needed for centuries. Judging from the dire state of countries around the world today, the frightened, befuddled and divided majority still can't do the right thing and chop it down.

Corruption and its acceptance as a standard practice trickles down from the top.

The Ministry of Silly Walks, Nepotism and Bribes. The architects of the lost decades ( generations? ) ‘at your service.’

Suspended sentence? I'm shocked. Shocked, I say!!!

Corruption at the highest level being "punished" by a suspended sentence....

Is that really sending the right message? Rip off funds from the hard working taxpayers and you will get... get a stiff talking to .. and then carry on as normal.

Well if class A war criminals (who would go on to found the LDP with CIA funding) weren't reinstated to power after the war maybe we'd have a different set of circumstances.

Rotten to the core -Japan Inc.

......and they wonder why Japan is in decline.

Nothing ever changes.

One rule for the 'elite' and one for the plebs.

I bet fully 100% of the readers of this site knew what the verdict would be before even reading it.

The stench of the rotting carcass that is J-Inc is getting stronger and more repugnant by the minute.

Hay, that’s just part of “Work” in Japan

The land of the suspended sentence. What's worse is that they've shown lately when these people commit more crimes during their "suspension", they are not subject to serving the sentences they got suspended, meaning it has no meaning at all.

Gotta wonder who would want to be a patient of that kid when and if he becomes a real doctor. But, of course, by that time no one will remember his name or his father's transgression.

Nothing like having a doctor who couldn’t pass the exam to get into medical school without bribing someone.

I’m sure his future patients will fully enjoy his endless malpractice procedures.

Not long after I came to Japan, I learned of a system whereby students being interviewed for acceptance at the school and specifically at private medical schools had a packet of money (read bribe) under their application. I asked doctors that I knew about it and they said they yes, it was pretty normal at private medical schools especially if the father was an alumnus. I then got a list of such schools because I wanted to avoid being treated by graduates of these schools. I think that this school was on the list.