Kyoto public prosecutors have arrested Mr. Noboru Okubo and his eldest son Hiroshi, the respective former chief and deputy chief director of the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, on suspicion of causing a loss of ¥260 million to a public-interest corporation through shady deals with companies led by themselves. They could be charged with a breach of trust.
In fiscal 2008, some 2.86 million people sat for the kanken (kanji certification) tests sponsored by the foundation. Despite the arrests, it plans to carry out a kanken test in June. The foundation, now headed by Mr. Akio Kioi, a former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, needs to do its best to regain the trust of people. The education ministry, which approved the kanken body as an incorporated foundation under its jurisdiction in 1992, also needs to examine itself since it was so late in detecting the irregularities.
The foundation's murky business deals with four companies headed by either the elder or younger Okubo came to light in January 2009. Since fiscal 1992, it has paid, without approval by the board of directors, some ¥25 billion to the firms.