New scandal hit Social Insurance Agency: income falsification

Just when you think the social insurance system of Japan can’t be much worse than it is, new scandal hit the Social Insurance Agency this time involving its own official. As it turns out SIA official colluded with employers as early as 1995 to make employee income lower that it actually were to get better record on premium-payment rates. According to the official who got caught red-handed this collusion between official and employers is not systemic in SIA, meaning it is only an isolated case. However, another former official at SIA claims that the illegal arrangement is widespread in the agency. Below is an excerpt of the article from Japan Times Online. Oh well, here we go again.

The SIA official instructed a Tokyo-based company in 1995 to lower its employees’ reported incomes. Documents written by the official confirm this took place. Also, the president of the company told an Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry panel investigating pension problems that the SIA official instructed the firm to lower its stated income levels.

The case has prompted the agency to launch an investigation into all 150 million entries in the pension program’s computer system. Pension account holders whose entries are found to have undergone suspicious changes in income levels will be notified, according to the agency.