NHK Employee Fired for Fraudulently Receiving Allowances

December 12, 2018

Tokyo--Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK, has fired a senior employee at its broadcasting station in Obihiro, Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, for fraudulently receiving 5,242,160 yen in allowances.

The allowances received deceitfully by the 51-year-old deputy head of the technical department at the Obihiro station included those paid to employees transferred to workplaces away from their homes without being accompanied by their families, the public broadcaster said Tuesday. The employee was fired as of the same day.

The dismissed employee received the allowances for 29 months from July 2016 by forging necessary documents, telling the broadcaster in questioning that the money was needed for partly covering child-rearing expenses, according to NHK.

Also on Tuesday, NHK announced a decision to suspend another employee from duty for 14 days for receiving 2,242,800 yen in allowances without meeting requirements.

NHK President Ryoichi Ueda and three other executives will voluntarily return part of their pay to take responsibility for the series of misconduct by employees.

Ueda will have his compensation cut by 50 pct for one month.

In a statement, NHK offered an apology and vowed to make all-out efforts to prevent similar incidents. Jiji Press