crime

Niigata official arrested for embezzling Y10 mil intended for school lunches

17 Comments

A civil servant in Itogawa, Niigata Prefecture has been charged with embezzling approximately 10 million yen from money intended for school lunches.

According to Itogawa city officials, the 60-year-old man was in charge of managing the accounts at the school lunch center. Fuji TV quoted police as saying that he drastically inflated the budget for cooking ingredients and, over the last five years, has taken approximately 10 million yen from the city coffers.

The Itogawa mayor on Monday released a statement, saying: "We must move forward from this and seek to regain the citizens' trust. We must show them how we deal with such behavior and how we will prevent it in the future."

In a similar case last month, a junior high school teacher in his 40s was arrested for stealing 15 million yen from funds allocated to provide school lunches to students. Immediately following the incident, a thorough investigation was conducted, which led to the discovery of the latest embezzlement, Fuji reported.

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17 Comments
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I suspect that if audits were conducted nationwide that there would be a list of shady things going on.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

So, how many more are they gonna find?

10 ( +11 / -2 )

I wonder if he's going to cry like a baby in front of reporters too

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Looking forward to his crying video.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Japan is rife with embezzlers.... this is the tip of the iceberg... many companies will not report embezzlement due the embarrassment.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Fuji TV quoted police as saying that he drastically inflated the budget for cooking ingredients and, over the last five years, has taken approximately 10 million yen from the city coffers.

Im actually pretty glad to read that he was just fiddling the figures, and not taking food out of the mouths of the kids. Hope that he is punished severely though.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

In many places, these things go on and some lowere ranking workers may know about it but are afraid to blow the whistle for fear of their jobs. Time to get rid of that scum.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Let me guess... he enjoyed playing pachinko?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Im actually pretty glad to read that he was just fiddling the figures, and not taking food out of the mouths of the kids.

But taking food out of the kid's mouths is exactly what he was doing. Roughly $20,000 a year intended for school lunches was siphoned-off by this guy. What the school board thought they were allocating money for in regards to school lunches was not what was being bought.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

"Japan is rife with embezzlers.... this is the tip of the iceberg... many companies will not report embezzlement due the embarrassment" aint that the truth...

U can say that again, and again, and again..

0 ( +2 / -2 )

No matter where you go in this world there are embezzlers. Embezzlers are hard to pin down as far as personality goes, as they are all ages, races, male or female, different educational background, and personalities. Prevention in hiring this type of person is key to keeping your profits in the coffers, but if you have an active embezzler in your employ, you can look for signs to tip you off. Of course they are going to have access to your finances, bank deposits, and the like. The bookkeeper or chief financial officer or the person in charge of the accounts as in this case is usually the culprit.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's supremely obvious that Japan has a HUGE embezzling problem. It seems like every week, there's a new case. What is it about Japan that makes it seem "OK" to do this? I feel like part of it is that the common man is so apathetic towards politics, politicians can go on in their own little world without any outside scrutiny. I feel like if the Japanese were more politically involved, less people would even have the opportunity to do it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Fadamor, the article states that he was inflating the budget and then skimming off the top. The children were still getting their lunches. He wasn't taking food out of their mouths. "All" he was doing was stealing from taxpayers.

Re-read my post. His inflated budget was making the school board think that higher quality food was being purchased. It was not. Instead, the kids were getting the same lunches they were getting before this guy set up his little operation.

If I hand you a $20 and say, "Take my kid to lunch and here's the money for his lunch." I'm expecting the kid to eat $20-worth of food, not a McDonald's Happy Meal. By purchasing cheap food and pocketing the difference, you've taken quality food out of my child's mouth.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He'll cry.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Fadamor, the article states that he was inflating the budget and then skimming off the top. The children were still getting their lunches. He wasn't taking food out of their mouths. "All" he was doing was stealing from taxpayers.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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