Japanese Ministry Inspects Yamato Unit on Overbilling

August 10, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's transport ministry inspected a Yamato Holdings Co. subsidiary on Thursday over the company's overcharging of fees on moving services for corporate customers.

The ministry is considering the possibility of punishing Yamato Home Convenience Co. under the trucking business law over the fraudulent billing.

The ministry has given the company until the end of this month to report the results of its own investigation into the matter and preventive measures.

Six investigators from the ministry visited the Tokyo head office of Yamato Home. The ministry also plans to inspect the company's branch in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Friday.

The overcharging affected about 48,000 moves, nearly 40 pct of the total, handled over two years and two months from May 2016. The amount of overcharging totaled about 1.7 billion yen.

Yamato Holdings last month said the subsidiary overcharged the customers because it collected fees based on initial estimates, though the amount of goods actually transported was smaller.

But a whistleblower who is a former branch manager said the estimates had been deliberately inflated. Jiji Press