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The Yomiuri Shimbun
A former Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official who has been linked to a scandal involving gifts from the head of a social welfare corporation was once considered a "rising star among noncareer-track officials," health ministry officials said Thursday.
Earlier that day, it was revealed that Masaru Matsushima, a former director of the ministry's Kyushu Regional Health and Welfare Bureau, allegedly received luxury cars and several million yen to build and refurbish his house from the former director of a social welfare corporation in Osaka Prefecture.
It also came to light that the former senior bureaucrat used the money to wine and dine his colleagues and subordinates in the ministry.
On Thursday morning, senior ministry officials were briefed by officials in the personnel division and those in charge of public relations.
Senior officials kept quiet about the scandal.
"I heard that [Matsushima] was familiar with welfare for the handicapped. I ordered my subordinates to gather information as soon as possible," said Junichi Kaneko, who heads the ministry's Secretariat.
The ministry's administrative vice minister, Tetsuo Tsuji, who was to be replaced over the pension record-keeping fiasco, spent his last day at the ministry dealing with the issue.
"The scandal came to light on his last day here. He must be feeling miserable," a senior official said.
Matsushima entered the former Health and Welfare Ministry in 1976 from the Social Welfare and Medical Service Corporation, currently the Welfare and Medical Service Agency.
Mainly working in the field of welfare, he was promoted in July 2004 to head the welfare division of the Health and Welfare Department for Persons with Disabilities, a post considered open only to career-track bureaucrats.
At that time, the division was in the process of drawing up a draft bill designed to help handicapped people become more independent. But in face of fierce criticism from organizations representing disabled people, the division had trouble coordinating the opinions of the parties concerned.
In a surprise appointment, Matsushima replaced his predecessor, who was a career-track official.
During his tenure at the division, Matsushima won high acclaim for playing a leading role in passing the bill into law.
For this outstanding performance, Matsushima was named chief of the Policy Planning Division of the same department, another post that had previously been held only by career-track officials.
(Aug. 31, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070831TDY02005.htm
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