An employee of a public bus company in Komatsushima, Tokushima Prefecture, used his own money to cover a deficit of ¥880,000 at the firm over a three-year period, a city official said Thursday.
The man, who has not been identified, worked in the division that sold airline tickets. He said he could not reveal the losses because he was the one who proposed the bus firm enter the airline ticket business, sources said.
The man covered the losses out of his own pocket between September 2005 and last July, according to the city of Komatsushima. The man apparently paid between ¥1,000 and ¥30,000 every month during the period.
He used his own money to pay the terminal fees of the airlines, because the commission from marketing the airline tickets did not cover the cost, the city said.
The man was the only one in charge of the airline ticket agency division, and no one else checked the bills from the airlines, the city said.
The city will book ¥880,000 as an extraordinary cost in its 2008 financial statement.
"It is unfortunate that this happened. I wish he could have discussed the situation sooner," said an official of the city's transportation division.