A Foreign Ministry investigation into the alleged misappropriation of public funds by a senior Foreign Ministry official will be concluded by Jan. 26, before the expected start of the ordinary Diet session Jan. 31, Senior Vice Foreign Minister Seishiro Eto said Thursday.
Eto said he has conveyed the timetable to Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, who is currently visiting Persian Gulf nations, over the telephone Wednesday.
The 55-year-old official is suspected of having embezzled several hundred million yen while serving as head of the ministry's office to support overseas visits by Japanese VIPs between 1993 and 1999.
On Saturday, the official in question was stripped of his post as director of the Division for Administrative Improvement in the Secretariat out of concern that the scandal may affect his duties, according to the ministry. He is now simply assigned to the Foreign Minister's Secretariat.