The labor ministry dismissed seven Hyogo Labor Bureau employees on disciplinary grounds in connection with a slush funds scam, the ministry said Friday.
Eleven officials at the local labor bureau in Hyogo Prefecture have meanwhile been suspended from work for one to 10 months for using the funds, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
The ministry slapped punitive measures, including wage cuts and reprimands, on some 220 employees, the 18 among them, over the accounting irregularities, in which the bureau misappropriated some 540 million yen from fiscal 1999 to fiscal 2004.
The punished employees include officials of the ministry's headquarters.
Separately, another eight employees who were involved in the misdeeds and have been transferred to different ministries and agencies, will be penalized.
Of the 540 million, yen about 200 million yen was pooled at the local bureau, another 200 million yen was embezzled by individual employees, and the remaining 140 million yen was spent by vendors of the bureau.