Japan Transport Ministry to Inspect Yamato Unit on Overbilling

August 6, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's transport ministry is considering conducting on-site inspections into a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Yamato Holdings Co. over the company's overcharging of moving service fees, it was learned Monday.

The inspections will be based on the trucking business law.

The ministry plans to interview officials of the unit, Yamato Home Convenience Co., to uncover details of the fraudulent billing.

According to the ministry, 123 of the company's 128 offices across Japan were involved in the overcharging.

Of some 124,000 moves handled by the company for corporate customers over two years and two months from May 2016, inappropriate charges were found for nearly 40 pct, or about 48,000 cases, according to an announcement by Yamato Holdings in July.

The amount of overcharging totals at least around 1.7 billion yen. The total is expected to rise further as the investigation progresses.

To prepare for possible returns of overcharged money for cases in the past five years, Yamato Holdings additionally booked some 1.4 billion yen in reserves in its earnings report for April-June 2018.

Yamato Holdings said the subsidiary overcharged the customers because it collected fees based on initial estimates, without taking into account the amounts of goods actually transported, which could be lower.

The group will ask an investigation committee led by a lawyer to look into the problem and announce findings together with preventive measures in August. Jiji Press