A total of 328 Foreign Ministry officials were punished Friday for illicitly pooling more than 200 million yen in public funds, using about 160 million yen for mostly unofficial purposes over 6 1/2 years, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Friday.
The officials pooled the money at hotels and other firms where they had bills for the ministry padded.
Two officials were dismissed -- Ryuji Arai, consul at Sao Paulo, Brazil, who used 4.11 million yen for personal purposes, and Shuzo Narita, consul at Chennai, India, who used 3.87 million yen.
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