The effective dismissal of the administrative vice minister of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry for leaking confidential information to a senior executive of Japan Post Holdings Co. sheds light on the questionable ties between bureaucrats and the former postal service monopoly that linger more than a decade after its privatization in 2007. The government needs to probe whether the leak is part of a broader and deeper collusion between the supervisor and the supervised, which undermines fairness in administrative service.
Shigeki Suzuki quit as the ministry's top bureaucrat last Friday after he was given a three-month suspension from duty for leaking information on the government's pending penalties on the Japan Post group over inappropriate sales of insurance policies to its customers — which was being discussed by a handful of senior officials including Suzuki and internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi. He handed the information to Yasuo Suzuki, a senior vice president of Japan Post Holdings, who himself served as the ministry's administrative vice minister before landing the job at the Japan Post group.
The leak reportedly came to light in an internal audit after the ministry learned that the Japan Post group knew of the penalties under discussion and was trying to approach relevant officials.