Administrative reform minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Monday voiced regret over the alleged embezzlement of diplomacy funds by a former senior official at the Foreign Ministry, saying such wrongdoing should not be tolerated.
"I am sorry that the alleged embezzlement took place when I was serving as prime minister . . . The issue is too serious to judge from what has been reported up to now," Hashimoto told a luncheon meeting at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo.
The government failed to have an auditing system to check the use of such funds, and the ministry may have left the official in the same post for too long, he said.