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Welfare ministry official acquitted in postal abuse case

OSAKA, Japan, Aug. 24 Kyodo - Atsuko Muraki (L), former director general of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau, holds a press conference in Osaka on Sept. 10, 2010, with her lawyer Junichiro Hironaka after the Osaka District Court acquitted her of instructing a subordinate to fabricate and issue an official document for an organization in an attempt to abuse a mail discount system for people with disabilities.(Kyodo)

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Japan's 2nd ever woman vice minister

TOKYO, Japan - Photo shows Atsuko Muraki, director general of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau. The government plans to name Muraki as vice minister of the ministry to become Japan's second ever woman vice minister, reflecting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to appoint women to key posts, government sources said June 14, 2013.

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Acquitted Muraki returns to welfare ministry

TOKYO, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, senior official at the Cabinet Office, answers reporters' questions after being appointed head of the Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 10, 2012. Muraki was acquitted in 2010 in a fraud case involving abuse of a postal discount system while working at the welfare ministry.

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Acquitted gov't official

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki, who was acquitted of a postal abuse charge, takes part in an advisory panel meeting to reform Japan's judicial system on Jan. 27, 2011, at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo. Muraki, who was wrongly charged by the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, urged the government to make the investigative process fully transparent.

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Muraki assumes post after acquittal

TOKYO, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a 54-year-old senior government official who was acquitted of fraud charges, fields questions from reporters at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Sept. 27, 2010, after being presented with a letter of appointment for a new post of director general for policy planning at the Cabinet Office. Muraki was arrested over a postal abuse case in June 2009.

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (L) receives the letter of appointment from Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010. Muraki was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry after 15 months.

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (front) is welcomed by her coworkers upon her arrival at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010. Muraki was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry after 15 months.

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki shows her emotion at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after she was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry's job.

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (C) is welcomed by her coworkers upon her arrival at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010. Muraki was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry after 15 months.

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (C) is welcomed by her coworkers upon her arrival at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010. Muraki was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry after 15 months.

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki shows her emotion at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after she was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry's job.

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki shows her emotion at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after she was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry's job.

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Acquitted welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (L) and her lawyer Junichiro Hironaka speak at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into Muraki's then-suspected involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people.

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Acquitted welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (R) speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into Muraki's then-suspected involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people.

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Junichiro Hironaka, lawyer of senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki who was acquitted of abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people, speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation in the case.

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Acquitted welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into Muraki's then-suspected involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people.

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Crime data altering

WAKO, Japan - Acquitted welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki leaves her home in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into Muraki's alleged involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people.

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Tsunehiko Maeda, the principal prosecutor in the case of Atsuko Muraki, walks into the Osaka District Court on Sept. 21, 2010. Maeda reportedly admitted to altering the date of update on a floppy disk seized in May 2009 in the case of Muraki's then-suspected involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people.

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Junichiro Hironaka (C in back), lawyer of senior welfare official Atsuko Muraki, who was acquitted of abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people, speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into the case.

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Welfare official acquitted

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a senior official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, smiles during a press conference in Osaka, after the Osaka District Court acquitted her of allegedly instructing a subordinate to fabricate and issue an official document for an organization to enable it to use a mail discount system for the disabled.

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Welfare official acquitted

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a senior official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, enters the Osaka District Court on Sept. 10, 2010. The court acquitted her of fabricating and issuing an official document for an organization to enable it to use a mail discount system for the disabled.

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Welfare official acquitted

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a senior official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, enters the Osaka District Court on Sept. 10, 2010. The court acquitted her of fabricating and issuing an official document for an organization to enable it to use a mail discount system for the disabled.

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Imperial couple briefed on WWII battlefield in west Pacific

Japanese Emperor Akihito (C) and Empress Michiko (L) are briefed on April 9, 2015, by Vice Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Atsuko Muraki on Angaur Island, one of the fiercest World War II battlefields seen afar from Peleliu Island in the western Pacific republic of Palau. The imperial couple earlier offered white chrysanthemum flowers and silent prayers on Peleliu at the Monument of the War Dead in the region. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Senior welfare ministry official arrested over postal fraud

TOKYO, Japan - Photo shows career-track bureaucrat Atsuko Muraki, who was arrested June 14, speaking during a session of the House of Representatives Committee on Health, Labor and Welfare on June 12 as chief of the welfare ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau. (Kyodo)

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Senior welfare ministry official arrested over postal fraud

TOKYO, Japan - Undated file photo shows Atsuko Muraki, a career-track bureaucrat at the central government who was arrested June 14 over a case of postal system abuse. She heads the welfare ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau. (Kyodo)

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Muraki assumes post after acquittal

TOKYO, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a 54-year-old senior government official who was acquitted of fraud charges, fields questions from reporters at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Sept. 27, 2010, after being presented with a letter of appointment for a new post of director general for policy planning at the Cabinet Office. Muraki was arrested over a postal abuse case in June 2009. (Kyodo)

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (C) is welcomed by her coworkers upon her arrival at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010. Muraki was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry after 15 months. (Kyodo)

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (L) receives the letter of appointment from Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010. Muraki was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry after 15 months. (Kyodo)

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (front) is welcomed by her coworkers upon her arrival at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010. Muraki was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry after 15 months. (Kyodo)

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (C) is welcomed by her coworkers upon her arrival at the ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010. Muraki was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry after 15 months. (Kyodo)

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki shows her emotion at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after she was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry's job. (Kyodo)

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki shows her emotion at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after she was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry's job. (Kyodo)

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Acquitted welfare official returns to work

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki shows her emotion at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2010, after she was acquitted of a postal abuse charge and reinstated to the ministry's job. (Kyodo)

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Tsunehiko Maeda, the principal prosecutor in the case of Atsuko Muraki, walks into the Osaka District Court on Sept. 21, 2010. Maeda reportedly admitted to altering the date of update on a floppy disk seized in May 2009 in the case of Muraki's then-suspected involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people. (Kyodo)

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Acquitted welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (R) speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into Muraki's then-suspected involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people. (Kyodo)

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Acquitted welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki (L) and her lawyer Junichiro Hironaka speak at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into Muraki's then-suspected involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people. (Kyodo)

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Acquitted welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into Muraki's then-suspected involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people. (Kyodo)

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Junichiro Hironaka (C in back), lawyer of senior welfare official Atsuko Muraki, who was acquitted of abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people, speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into the case. (Kyodo)

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Crime data altering

TOKYO, Japan - Junichiro Hironaka, lawyer of senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki who was acquitted of abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people, speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation in the case. (Kyodo)

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Crime data altering

WAKO, Japan - Acquitted welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki leaves her home in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, on Sept. 21, 2010. Prosecutors are suspected of tampering with data seized during an investigation into Muraki's alleged involvement in abusing the postal discount system for handicapped people. (Kyodo)

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Welfare official acquitted

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a senior official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, smiles during a press conference in Osaka, after the Osaka District Court acquitted her of allegedly instructing a subordinate to fabricate and issue an official document for an organization to enable it to use a mail discount system for the disabled. (Kyodo)

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Welfare official acquitted

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a senior official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, enters the Osaka District Court on Sept. 10, 2010. The court acquitted her of fabricating and issuing an official document for an organization to enable it to use a mail discount system for the disabled. (Kyodo)

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Welfare official acquitted

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a senior official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, enters the Osaka District Court on Sept. 10, 2010. The court acquitted her of fabricating and issuing an official document for an organization to enable it to use a mail discount system for the disabled. (Kyodo)

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Imprisonment sought for welfare ministry official over fraud

OSAKA, Japan - Welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki enters the Osaka District Court on June 22, 2010. Prosecutors sought an 18-month prison term for Muraki, charged with issuing a fabricated ministry document to recognize an organization as a group working for the disabled, enabling it to take advantage of a postal discount system for the handicapped. (Kyodo)

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Official likely to be acquitted of fraud

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, a former senior official of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, enters the Osaka District Court on May 26, 2010, to attend a hearing of her trial on a charge of issuing a fabricated ministry document. The court is expected to acquit Muraki, who is on leave over the case, as it decided the same day not to admit as evidence most of the depositions of her colleagues that linked her to an abuse of a mail discount system for the handicapped. (Kyodo)

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Acquitted gov't official

TOKYO, Japan - Senior welfare ministry official Atsuko Muraki, who was acquitted of a postal abuse charge, takes part in an advisory panel meeting to reform Japan's judicial system on Jan. 27, 2011, at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo. Muraki, who was wrongly charged by the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, urged the government to make the investigative process fully transparent. (Kyodo)

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Welfare ministry official pleads not guilty to postal fraud

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, former director general of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau, speaks at a news conference in Osaka on Jan. 27, 2010, after the first hearing of her trial at the Osaka District Court. Muraki pleaded not guilty to the charge of issuing a fabricated ministry document that enabled a fictitious organization to abuse a mail discount system for the handicapped in 2004. (Kyodo)

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Welfare ministry official pleads not guilty to postal fraud

OSAKA, Japan - Atsuko Muraki, former director general of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau, heads for the Osaka District Court in Osaka on Jan. 27, 2010, to attend the first hearing of her trial. Muraki pleaded not guilty to the charge of issuing a fabricated ministry document that enabled a fictitious organization to abuse a mail discount system for the handicapped in 2004. (Kyodo)