The top bureaucrat at the ministry that supervises the Japan Post group has been effectively sacked for leaking information about possible disciplinary measures against the group over its questionable insurance policy sales tactics.

The scandal is a shockingly blatant example of how “amakudari” could breed corruptive and collusive ties between government and business.

Shigeki Suzuki has effectively been dismissed as administrative vice minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for leaking the draft of planned administrative penalties against the group and other related information to Yasuo Suzuki, the senior executive vice president of Japan Post Holdings Co., who previously served in the same top post at the ministry.

Yasuo Suzuki obtained the senior executive position at the group through so-called amakudari (which literally means "descent from heaven.") Amakudari, often deemed a source of corruption, is the practice of senior bureaucrats landing cushy post-retirement jobs at entities related to the sectors they formerly supervised.

The Japan Post group, which was once a state-run provider of mail delivery, postal savings and postal insurance services, was turned into a public corporation in 2003 and then reorganized as a shareholder-owned private company in 2007. The internal affairs ministry, along with the Financial Services Agency, is responsible for supervising its operations.

Yasuo Suzuki assumed the senior executive post at Japan Post Holdings in 2013 after serving in the ministry’s top bureaucratic post in 2009-10.

The information leak scandal centers around a connection between a top official at the ministry and a senior executive at the company that the ministry supervises. This seemingly corrupt nexus, which has threatened the integrity of administration, is a really serious situation.

The sacked vice minister’s act is a betrayal of the trust of people who have been victimized by Japan Post’s sales irregularities and the Japanese people in general.

While he has reportedly admitted leaking the information, Shigeki Suzuki’s motive in doing so is not clear.

What kind of relationship did he have with the Japan Post executive who was one of his predecessors? Have there been any other cases of corruption based on collusive ties between the ministry and Japan Post? An exhaustive investigation needs to be conducted to find clear answers to these and other key questions.

The Japan Post group has pledged to uncover the whole truth about the dubious insurance sales practices and take steps to prevent a recurrence.

If the group attempted to obtain information about the ministry’s expected punitive action against it through such shady means, the credibility of what it has said will be shaken to the core.

It is also baffling that the postal conglomerate has said nothing about the leak except that it is trying to ascertain the facts.

The group’s current management team was far too slow to realize the seriousness of the sales irregularities and has been unable to clarify the responsibility for the scandal. The entire team, including Yasuo Suzuki, the senior executive vice president, should be replaced.

Vice President Suzuki is believed to have led the group’s protest against Japan Broadcasting Corp.’s (NHK) report on Japan Post Insurance Co.’s inappropriate sales practices.

Suzuki reportedly put pressure on NHK through its Board of Governors under the pretext of raising issues about the public broadcaster’s governance. In doing so, Suzuki bragged about his past status as the ministry’s administrative vice minister at the ministry responsible for supervising the broadcast industry and went so far as to lecture on the Broadcast Law.

In other words, he repeatedly abused his position as a former top bureaucrat at the ministry.

There are certain regulatory restrictions on the employment of retiring elite bureaucrats and on former top officials’ job-placement support for such bureaucrats. But the Japan Post scandal shows they do not prevent bureaucracy and business from forging cozy relations.

In 2017, an education ministry administrative vice minister stepped down over dozens of cases in which ministry bureaucrats landed plum jobs at universities and other organizations supervised by the ministry through the help of former officials.

The government should carry out investigations to see whether former top bureaucrats have been abusing their influence over the ministries and agencies they previously worked for.

The Japan Post group is still going through the process of privatization. The government holds 57 percent of the holding company’s shares and has the power to approve appointments to the board.

The Japan Post Insurance scandal has cast a dark shadow over the outlook of the group’s privatization. It is vital to inject more transparency into the group’s relationship with the government and the process of management decisions including top executive appointments.

Both the internal affairs ministry and the Japan Post group need to push through a fundamental reform of their respective organizational culture.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 22