TEPCO paid way over going rate to contractors

few handshakes here and there to their yakuza mates - everyone's happy.

Some people are obviously getting filthy rich out of this man-made disaster - and it sure is not the guys toiling at the coal-face trying to clean up the toxic mess.

Wow. I am so not surprised. The government threw money at this problem and the money is going into some of their friend's pockets. I think some people misunderstood the "Gambarre Nippon" commercials. It was not meant to be a license to screw over the Japanese affected by this disaster in these people's haste to rob the taxpayer. But as we all know, there really are people in this world who care only about money, and they welcome disasters and wars as opportunities.

Aside, not only has too much money been shelled out, but it has been shelled out on efforts that were totally not necessary, such as trucking all the waste around the nation to be burned in your local incinerators. How much did that cost?

Its failure could also affect electricity production in the economically-vital Tokyo area.

Bogus. The company is functionally bankrupt. Nationalize it, fire the execs, take better care of the engineers and the grunts, and save the taxpayers a bundle already, fee cryin' out loud. Anything else is a dereliction of duty after case after case has exhibited that TEPCO's incompetence is really nothing less than criminal.

... sometimes having hired retired TEPCO officials ...

Is this called nuclear fuel recycling?

Practice for the Olympics?

"layers of subcontracts" only Japan does this happen, it is everything that is wrong with Japan's work force.

This is so typical of Japanese business ethics. The rich get richer and the people on the ground get screwed! All these 'middle men' are just soaking up the funds that TEPCO should be paying to the victims of their man-made disaster. It's also pretty sickening that the article states the monopolies don't know how to handle their cash flows cos they have never had any competition. Meanwhile, the consumer gets to pay increased electricity tariffs and supply TEPCO with huge amounts of public funds that are being funneled into the coffers of these unscrupulous contracting companies. And, what is the government doing about it? Truck all! They are just sitting back and letting these bastards rip the country off blindly. So, what can the public do about it? Absolutely nothing! Because TEPCO and the J-Gov still have a monopoly on the power supply. It's a complete farce!

oo@gogog

"layers of subcontracts" only Japan does this happen, it is everything that is wrong with Japan's work force.

That is simply not true. Almost all industries now have only top corporate administration and top management as company staff. If you were to visit a shipyard anywhere in the world, you would find virtually no worker who are employed directly by the yard. "layers of subcontracts" are called "lower tier subcontracts" and it is quite common and universal. For example the electrical department will have contracts with a few large electrical contractors who in turn hire work force from smaller companies. The same goes with all trades. It does not make economical sense for a manufacturer to keep hundreds of welders or painters on the payroll if there is no welding or painting going on at the time.

Nothing surprises with this corrupt crooked bunch of criminals, anything associated with tepco is rancid and festuring.

What a phenomenal surprise. It's almost as if a corrupt elite is milking Japan's biggest post-war disaster for its own ends, with no regard for public safety.

And as usual, they'll just bow and apologize and no one will go to prison. Then when it's revealed further that the construction firms were yakuza, they'll bow and apologize and no one will go to prison. No doubt we'll hear the millionth 'never again' from them as well, and promises of in-house investigations.

Money laundering at its most obvious... Despicable company/government-backed criminal organization.

@Zichi,

Hopefully, this (utility competition) will be better for the end user with low monthly power charges.

Don't hold your breath.

This article goes into detail about where the money is going. http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/america-tonight-blog/2014/1/7/fukushima-cleanupworkerssubcontractors.html We've heard it all before, but it's nice to know that the rest of the world know what is going on.

For years I have been saying the costs for living in Japan come out to us all paying about 30% more for all the bribes, amakudari, STUPID inefficiency etc & I am not including a normal profit............in normal day to day life, a very high price!

Japanese for many many decades have LET their govt & Japan Inc FLEECE them bigtime, value for their money is extremely low, but hey the service isn't bad....................but its all coming home to roost!

And Fukushima/tepco is so far beyond the pale whats going on the waste totally blows out the water the normal corruption I have keenly felt here for 2+ decades, its truly maddening & goes way way beyond disgusting!

Techall, I think we all know what sub-contracting is & its normal but what is happening at tepco IS NOT sub-contracting when you go through 3,4,5 + layers before a person actually does THE JOB, that's a YAKUZA ECONOMY, its being called sub-contracting but really its not what normal sub contracting is its bold face CORRUPTION, extremely pervasive in ALL walks of life in Japan & its monstrous monkey on the nations back!

The workers get 20%, and the Yaks get 80%. Subcontracting allows TEPCO to turn a blind eye to it all. Seriously, how can the government let this bullsh*t continue? Oh, that's right - kickbacks!

Sometimes this place makes me sick!

There is always someone holding out their hands for a lot of money when it is not going to those that it should be going to.

Paid way over going rate? Who gets the money in between when it is only the homeless people who are employed to do the work ( as reported earlier by Japan Today )?