13 Comments

• 

  timorborder at 02:36 PM JST - 25th June

  Punishment should be simple. Sack the lot of them. Get this crowd out of their ivory towers and make them work for a living (like the rest of us). "Receiving favors" is another way of saying "corruption." Japan has the laws in place, it should use them to prosecute every last offender to the full extent of the law. While they are at, they should also go after the pensions and benefits of these people as well. Then again, given the "old boy's club" mentality down in Kasumigaseki, I won't hold my breath. One or two of the offenders (non-career bureaucrats) will be sacrificed to the media mob, while the rest will go on, business (graft) as usual.

• 

  thepro at 02:43 PM JST - 25th June

  I reckon they should be sacked too. Bureaucratic positions should have the strictest guidelines to work by and there should be no leeway, so as to avoid corruption.

• 

  seimei at 02:56 PM JST - 25th June

  MY GOD. Getting a beer from a taxi driver!? What about the officials at the construction ministry who give 50 million dollar contracts to their retirement fund... oops I meant their future employer when they retire... this is nothing.

• 

  timorborder at 02:59 PM JST - 25th June

  A beer or a bank account, the treatment of any form of corruption should be overwhelming. Sack them all.

• 

  TJrandom at 03:24 PM JST - 25th June

  Typical Code of conduct....

  Employees are prohibited from offering or accepting money, gifts, entertainment, or anything else of any value to or from any person or organization relating to potential or actual business unless it is declared to and approved by their supervisor in advance. Supervisors are to report any suspicious actions to the Management immediately.

  At a previous employer the limit was 500 yen.

• 

  wilbur at 03:57 PM JST - 25th June

  they'll be told to be more careful next time , and then sent on their way...business as usual in japan

• 

  lipscombe at 06:05 PM JST - 25th June

  the pension crisis would be automatically solved by cutting the number of 'civil servants' in half and punishing ALL forms of corruption with more than a suspended sentence. dont punish the population with tax increases, punish the officials who bleed the countries coffers dry.

• 

  wilbur at 06:28 PM JST - 25th June

  lips: never happen, because the people who would normally be in charge of the punishments are the SAME people who are robbing the country blind

• 

  rtrhead1 at 07:55 PM JST - 25th June

  seimei, it isn't just about the gifts. It also has to do with the expensive taxi rides every single day on the taxpayers dime. And the free beer.

• 

  lipscombe at 09:38 PM JST - 25th June

  when I said 'would' I meant in the ideal world that exists in my head only

• 

  pathat at 10:36 PM JST - 25th June

  I have had extensive dealings with a number of Finance Ministry people and have generally found them to be decent, hard-working people.

  A lot of Finance Ministry bureaucrats work so late because they have to- not necessarily because they want to-but the solution for some of you here is to "sack them all."

  Those who deserve to be punished will be reprimanded accordingly, but the number is nowhere near the 600 mentioned in this article.

• 

  GW at 12:06 AM JST - 26th June

  The media & most commenting on this fiasco are pennywise & pound foolish, sure the beer/favours from tax drivers is wrong & needs to be punished but the bigger wrong is the wasted money on taxis & overtime!

  This is what needs to happen(but wont)

  1. no beer/favors from taxi drivers
  2. no riding home evernight at MY expense!
  3. no wasteful overtime payments

  If these incompetents cant get their job done 9-5ish fire`em.

  If there is genuine work that happens at night change their damn hours to 9pm to 6am, then they have ALL DAY to get the train to work & ALL DAY to get the train home, end of problem & waste.

  Of course the only thing that will happen is they will crack down on the beer & snacks & a short term cutback on taxis home.

  It is abundantly that all these ministries have massive amounts of yen to throw around, Hey Fukuda how about cutting all budgets by 15%(shud be easy) & freeze spending for 10years & then review, its very clear the govt/beaurocrates dont need anymore taxes from us. Its no wonder so many companies & people cheat on taxes when we have to witness this, I am tempted to buy a new car & lots of unnecessary crap for the office to cut my taxable income to save on taxes & health insurance etc, this is insane

• 

  lipscombe at 03:56 AM JST - 26th June

  maybe cutting the number of civil servants in half won't work. only cut the corrupt ones in half (with a rusty saw)

Register or login to add a comment!