A record-low 62 retiring central-government bureaucrats landed jobs at firms with close ties to their offices in 1999, the National Personnel Authority said Wednesday.
In a 1999 white paper on the practice, known as "amakudari," or descent from heaven, the authority said the number was the lowest since bureaucrats were first obliged to report their new jobs in 1963.
Bureaucrats must receive the authority's permission to take on jobs at private firms following their retirement from civil service. There were 88 amakudari employments in 1998 and 118 in 1997.
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