The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department conducted searches at Tokyo Women's Medical University in the capital's Shinjuku Ward and related institutions on Friday, on suspicions that the university’s alumni association, Shiseikai, paid salaries to employees who were not actually working at the university.
In March 2023, several university alumnae filed criminal charges against Chancellor Kinuko Iwamoto with the Tokyo police on charges of breach of trust.
The alumnae alleged that she entered into an outsourcing contract with a consulting firm and provided a large sum of money to a business partner without the approval of the board of trustees.
In the charges, the alumnae stated that the salaries of employees on loan from the university to a Tokyo hospital operated by Shiseikai were less than the amount paid by the university to the hospital, claiming that “excessive funds are clearly leaking out of the university.”
Iwamoto, who graduated from the university, became chancellor of the university's board of trustees in April 2019 and also served as chairman of Shiseikai until April 2023.
According to its website, Shiseikai is organized by graduates of Tokyo Women's Medical University, with approximately 4,500 members as of the end of June last year. It operates a hospital and a nursing school.