An affiliate of KSD, a mutual aid group under criminal investigation for alleged lending irregularities, has been admonished by the Justice Ministry for alleged violations of foreign trainees' human rights, according to ministry officials.

The Tokyo-based KSD affiliate, which introduces technical trainees from Indonesia and other countries to small and midsize Japanese firms, was reprimanded twice by the ministry for allowing companies accepting the trainees to keep their passports, the officials told Thursday's session of the House of Councilors Judicial Affairs Committee. The affiliate was not named.

The officials said the ministry verbally warned the affiliate of possible human rights violations last December and admonished the body in a statement this March.

The comments were made in response to a question by Upper House member Atsushi Hashimoto of the Japanese Communist Party.

Since the launch of investigations last month into KSD, a mutual aid society for small business operators under the supervision of the Labor Ministry, several Diet members have raised questions about the group and its affiliates over their close ties with politicians and bureaucrats.

Former KSD head Tadao Koseki, 79, under investigation for allegedly lending several hundred million yen in KSD funds to its numerous affiliates without sufficient collateral, stepped down as the affiliate's director on Oct. 19. He had served as director since the establishment of the affiliate in December 1991.

Officials of the affiliate said it asked the foreign trainees to entrust their passports to the firms to prevent them from being lost or damaged. They denied that the practice was intended to stop the trainees leaving the training program.

Yukio Machida, head of the ministry's Immigration Bureau, told the Diet committee that the ministry will study the KSD affiliate's report on the practice and take necessary measures.