Foreign Ministry fires official over embezzlement

Foreign Ministry fires official over embezzlement

TOKYO, Japan - Foreign Minister Yohei Kono announces in Tokyo on Jan. 25 the results of a Foreign Ministry investigation which found that a senior official had diverted money from a secret government fund into his bank account. Kono said Katsutoshi Matuo, 55, is suspected of having embezzled at least 54 million yen in public funds and the ministry filed a criminal complaint against him with the Metropolitan Police Department. Matsuo was dismissed from the ministry.

  • Product Code
  • ILEA001083089
  • Registered date
  • 2001/1/25 00:00:00
  • Credit
  • Kyodo / Kyodo News Images
  • Media source
  • 2001 Kyodo News
  • Media size
  • 1864 × 1713 pixel
  • Resolution
  • dpi
  • Deployment size
  • 991.85(KB)*
  • Special instruction

*File size when opened in Photoshop, etc.

Similar Images & Videos
    U.S. says dispute with N. Korea resolved over fund freeze

    U.S. says dispute with N. Korea resolved over fund freeze

    BEIJING, China - North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan (C) attends the six-party talks in Beijing on March 19. The United States has resolved a dispute with North Korea over frozen funds at a Macao bank by agreeing on the transfer of all of the money to a North Korean account at a Chinese bank, a senior U.S. Treasury Department official says.
      Ministry staff misused 160 mil. yen, 2 to be dismissed

      Ministry staff misused 160 mil. yen, 2 to be dismissed

      TOKYO, Japan - Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, at a news conference in Tokyo on Nov. 30, said some 330 ministry staff improperly pooled more than 200 million yen in public funds and used about three-quarters of it for mostly unofficial purposes over a six-year period until this summer. She said two of them who admitted to using the money for personal purposes will be dismissed.
        Tanaka apologizes to colleagues

        Tanaka apologizes to colleagues

        TOKYO, Japan - Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka bows to her colleagues in apology prior to a regular cabinet session Sept. 7 for a series of scandals involving her ministry's senior officials. In yet another money scandal involving the Foreign Ministry, Tokyo police arrested an official the previous day for allegedly defrauding the state of some 423 million yen in March 1996 by padding hotel bills for international meetings.
          Saito apologizes for scandal

          Saito apologizes for scandal

          TOKYO, Japan - Kunihiko Saito (L), outgoing head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), holds a news conference Sept. 3 in Tokyo, together with his successor Takao Kawakami. Saito apologized for the scandal in which a Foreign Ministry official is charged with defrauding the public out of more than 500 million yen in discretionary government funds. Saito was vice foreign minister at the time the embezzlement took place.
            Saito apologizes for scandal

            Saito apologizes for scandal

            TOKYO, Japan - Kunihiko Saito (L), outgoing head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), holds a news conference Sept. 3 in Tokyo, together with his successor Takao Kawakami. Saito apologized for the scandal in which a Foreign Ministry official is charged with defrauding the public out of more than 500 million yen in discretionary government funds. Saito was vice foreign minister at the time the embezzlement took place.
              Foreign Minister Kono speaks on Matsuo's arrest

              Foreign Minister Kono speaks on Matsuo's arrest

              TOKYO, Japan - Foreign Minister Yohei Kono speaks before reporters at the Foreign Ministry on March 10 on the arrest of former logistics chief Katsutoshi Matsuo on suspicion of fraud by swindling the government out of 42 million yen in secret state funds since 1997. Matsuo, 55, received a total of 988 million yen from the Cabinet Secretariat's discretionary funds for diplomatic activities and allegedly pocketed the 42 million yen by padding expenses such as hotel bills for premiers' overseas trips, police said.
                Sacked diplomat Matsuo gets 7 years, 6 months for fraud

                Sacked diplomat Matsuo gets 7 years, 6 months for fraud

                TOKYO, Japan - Former Foreign Ministry official Katsutoshi Matsuo (file photo) was sentenced March 12 to seven years and six months in prison for embezzling 500 million yen from a secret government fund from 1997 to 1999.
                  Sacked diplomat Matsuo gets 7 years, 6 months for fraud

                  Sacked diplomat Matsuo gets 7 years, 6 months for fraud

                  TOKYO, Japan - Former Foreign Ministry official Katsutoshi Matsuo (file photo) was sentenced March 12 to seven years and six months in prison for embezzling 500 million yen from a secret government fund from 1997 to 1999.
                    Expert panel meeting to review Foreign Ministry operations

                    Expert panel meeting to review Foreign Ministry operations

                    TOKYO, Japan - Foreign Minister Yohei Kono (C) addresses the inaugural meeting of a panel comprised of outside experts at the Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo on Feb. 21. The panel has been set up to review the Foreign Ministry's internal operations in the wake of allegations that a diplomat embezzled government funds.
                      Kono instructs new team to look further into scandal

                      Kono instructs new team to look further into scandal

                      TOKYO, Japan - Foreign Minister Yohei Kono is surrounded by reporters at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Feb. 7 after the first meeting of two senior vice foreign ministers and three parliamentary foreign secretaries tasked with thoroughly probing alleged embezzlement of public funds by a ministry official.