New reform minister Yukio Edano said Wednesday a second round of scrutiny in April will target independent administrative institutions and public interest corporations that are believed to be squandering taxpayer money.
"I will be doing zero-based reviews of independent administrative institutions. So it will be in line with our campaign pledge to abolish them in principle," Edano, 45, said in an interview.
Independent administrative institutions and public interest corporations have often been criticized for allowing the practice of "amakudari," or rewarding top bureaucrats with lucrative "postretirement" jobs. According to the internal affairs ministry, there were 98 independent administrative institutions as of last Oct. 1 and 24,648 public interest corporations as of Oct. 1, 2007.