The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is eagerly anticipating a thumbs-up from Chinese customs soon, to sign a protocol that would allow the official direct export of fresh Cambodian longan to China, following a round of site inspections and risk assessments last week.
Eggs produced by Akita Foods Co. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The farm ministry has disciplined six bureaucrats who were wined and dined by an egg industry official involved in a separate bribery scandal that has ensnared a former agriculture minister.
Masaaki Edamoto, the top career bureaucrat in the ministry, was among the six who received pay cuts or warnings.
On two separate occasions, the bureaucrats had dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo that cost more than 20,000 yen ($190) each. Yoshiki Akita, the former head of Akita Foods Co., an egg producer based in Hiroshima Prefecture, picked up the tabs each time.
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Tokyo, Feb. 25 (Jiji Press) Japanese agriculture minister Kotaro Nogami announced on Thursday disciplinary measures for six senior ministry officials, including pay cuts for three, over dinners linked to a bribery scandal involving a former farm minister.
The six, together with an official who has left the agriculture ministry, were treated to one or two dinners costing up to 45,000 yen per person in 2018 and 2019 by an egg production company at the center of the scandal, according to an investigation report released by the ministry earlier in the day.
The three who will have their pay reduced by 10 pct for one month include Masaaki Edamoto, vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Edamoto was director-general of the ministry s Agricultural Production Bureau at the time of the 2018 dinner he attended.
Top Japanese farm bureaucrat dined with indicted ex-head of egg firm Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site. If you re not sure how to activate it, please refer to this site: https://www.enable-javascript.com/
Jiji Jan 19, 2021
The farm ministry’s top bureaucrat attended a dinner meeting with a former egg production company head who has been indicted on bribery charges, farm minister Kotaro Nogami revealed at a news conference Tuesday.
Including the top bureaucrat, Masaaki Edamoto, vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, a total of seven senior ministry officials had two dinner meetings with Yoshiki Akita, former head of the company, Akita Foods, based in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture.