The education ministry said Thursday it has confirmed 62 cases in which current or former employees acted illegally in finding jobs for retired or retiring bureaucrats.

A report on the final findings of the ministry’s probe into the practice of amakudari (literally "descent from heaven") concluded ministry workers have been systematically involved in the practice for several years.

And it found that this occurred despite legal reforms enacted in 2007 to ban the long-standing practice in which retired public servants secure plum jobs in sectors they used to oversee — a potential vehicle for corruption.