Officials at six regional labor bureaus, including those in Tokyo, Aomori, Kyoto and Hokkaido, have embezzled more than 70 million yen in public funds, Board of Audit officials said Wednesday.
The findings follow the revelation of similar scandals at the labor bureaus in Hiroshima and Hyogo last year. The Hiroshima bureau lost 132 million yen, while the figure for Hyogo was 30 million yen.
Following those scandals, the board began an audit last November of the books between fiscal 1999 and 2003 at the 47 regional labor bureaus under the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
It has audited 25 so far and is planning to complete the process by March.
At the Tokyo Labor Bureau, officials fabricated receipts showing the bureau paid vendors money for durable commodities that it did not purchase, after which the money allocated for the fake transactions was pooled.
About 10 million yen was used to buy personal computers and other goods that are now missing.