Foreign Ministry personnel pooled more than 100 million yen in illicit funds in the past five years by manipulating ministry accounts such as overcharged hotel bills, ministry sources said Saturday.
The practice, unearthed through an in-house probe, has continued even after Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka assumed office in April and vowed to clean up money scandals in the ministry, the sources said.
The ministry is expected to release the findings as early as this week and impose administrative discipline on more than 100 ministry personnel who either were involved in pooling the funds or were in supervisory positions.