Another money scandal involving a Foreign Ministry official surfaced Monday, as the ministry announced that a diplomat at its embassy in Palau misappropriated about $10,000 in public money for his personal use.
Fumiyoshi Miyazaki, 31, who was in charge of the embassy's accounting, withdrew cash from the embassy's account and used the money for purchasing his personal flight tickets and for eating out, Deputy Vice Foreign Minister Kyoji Komachi told a news conference.
Komachi said that when Miyazaki made an accounting report to his superior, Keiichi Hasegawa, in October 2000, Hasegawa found that the accounting book was $14,300 short of what the balance should have been.