Japan Top Court Rejects Damages over MOF Paper Tampering

Tokyo, March 14 (Jiji Press)--Japan’s Supreme Court has upheld lower court rulings that dismissed a petition for damages over a Ministry of Finance document-tampering scandal filed by the widow of a former ministry official who committed suicide.

In the lawsuit, the widow of Toshio Akagi, a former employee at the ministry’s Kinki Local Finance Bureau, sought 16.5 million yen in damages from Nobuhisa Sagawa, former director-general of the ministry’s Financial Bureau.

The widow, Masako, 53, claimed that her husband killed himself at age 54 after being ordered by then Director-General Sagawa to tamper with documents on a state land sale to school operator Moritomo Gakuen, previously linked to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, Akie.

The state redress law stipulates that the state is liable for damages inflicted on others by a government worker while on duty. The key issue in the suit was whether Sagawa could be held personally liable for the damages.

In its ruling, dated Wednesday, the top court’s Third Petty Bench supported lower court findings that rejected Sagawa’s liability.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]