Japan education ministry official arrested for bribery
Jiji -- Jul 05
Public prosecutors arrested a senior Japanese education ministry official on Wednesday for having his child pass an entrance exam of a private university fraudulently in return for giving the institution favorable treatment concerning a university support program of his ministry.

Arrested by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad for alleged bribe-taking was Futoshi Sano, 58, director-general of the ministry's Science and Technology Policy Bureau. The prosecutors also arrested Koji Taniguchi, a 47-year-old company executive, on suspicion of helping Sano with taking bribe.

The prosecutors did not disclose whether the suspects have admitted the allegations against them.

According to investigative sources, officials of Tokyo Medical University in the Japanese capital's Shinjuku Ward approached Sano in May 2017, when he was director-general at the education minister's secretariat. They asked him to do a favor for the university to be selected for the ministry program aimed at supporting private universities.

In return, the university allegedly helped Sano's child pass its entrance exam, held in February this year, by giving higher-than-actual scores to the applicant, the sources said.

東京医科大学への支援事業に便宜を図る見返りに自分の子どもを合格させたとして文部科学省の局長が逮捕された事件で、大学の複数の関係者が試験の不正に関わっていたことが分かりました。
News sources: Jiji, ANNnewsCH