Former Supreme Court Justice Itsuo Sonobe will become an inspections adviser at the scandal-riddled Foreign Ministry, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Friday.

"We would like to seek his advice from the viewpoint of his expertise," Tanaka told a news conference.

She said Sonobe, 72, will assume the post today as special assistant to the foreign minister and give advice to relevant officials at the ministry regarding in-house inspections and overseas diplomatic offices.

The establishment of the post is one of the measures taken by the Foreign Ministry to reform itself after a series of fraud scandals involving ministry officials and diplomats.

The reform plan calls for inspections to be carried out within the ministry, while reinforcing the inspection system for diplomatic offices abroad.

The plan also calls for an outside expert to be hired as a high-level inspector to oversee tasks.

The plan, scheduled to be put into effect next spring, was moved forward as further scandals erupted involving diplomats allegedly misusing public funds.

Sonobe served as a Supreme Court justice for 10 years until his retirement in 1999. Before joining the top court, he was a professor at the University of Tsukuba and later at Seikei University.