This unparalleled situation has shaken public trust in educational administration to its very foundation.
The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has arrested Futoshi Sano, head of the Science and Technology Policy Bureau at the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, on suspicion of accepting a bribe in return for benefits promised. Sano was dismissed from the post after his arrest.
In May 2017, Sano, who was head of the Minister's Secretariat at the ministry at the time, was allegedly asked by a senior official of Tokyo Medical University to use his authority to help the university be selected for the ministry's private university support program. In return, Sano allegedly had Tokyo Medical University ensure his son passed the university's entrance exam held in spring this year.
The university allegedly padded the son's test score.
Sano, who started his career at the now-defunct Science and Technology Agency, had held positions including vice president of the University of Yamanashi. He was considered a leading candidate to become an administrative vice education minister.
A career bureaucrat in charge of educational administration has, of all things, allegedly received special treatment from a university for his child's entrance exam. If proven true, this is a crime that sounds far-fetched at first. The special investigation squad must uncover the entire picture of this incident.
The crime of accepting a bribe in return for benefits promised materializes the moment a public official takes the bribe after receiving and agreeing to a request involving work duties. As the relationship between the request and the favor sought in return is generally obvious, the legal penalty is heavier than that for simple receipt of a bribe.
In this case, it is notable that the special investigation squad has regarded "illicitly helping the son pass the exam" as a bribe. A bribe is said to be "a benefit that satisfies a person's demand or desire." Typically, there is a strong perception that bribes involve money, but there have been cases in which providing hospitality and entertainment, a higher-ranking position or other benefits have been recognized as bribes.
Also scrutinize university
Whether ensuring Sano's son passed the entrance exam, which benefited the child, will be considered as a benefit to the parent will also be a focal point of this case.
The chairman of the university's Board of Regents and other top officials allegedly instructed that Sano's son be helped to pass the exam. Only one of every 16.5 students who took this spring's entrance exam for the university's medical school passed. A guarantee of fairness is the dominant principle of entrance exams. How was Sano's son's test score allegedly inflated? The actions of university officials involved in this alleged bribery also must be thoroughly investigated.
The ministry's support program in question is for universities conducting distinguished research. If a university is chosen for the program, it can have a profound effect on showcasing the high level of its research projects. In fiscal 2017, 188 universities applied to receive support through the program. Of them, 60 -- including Tokyo Medical University, which had missed selection the previous fiscal year -- were chosen.
The selection process involves a committee of experts screening written applications submitted by each university and then assigning each of them a score. In fiscal 2017, Tokyo Medical University received 35 million yen in grants through the program.
Sano allegedly instructed university officials what to write in their application. Were there no skewed aspects in the selection process? The education ministry should carefully examine this matter.
Last year, the ministry punished several officials, including past administrative vice ministers, following revelations of systematic amakudari, a practice in which senior government officials land lucrative postretirement jobs at entities related to the sectors they previously supervised. As head of the Minister's Secretariat, Sano had the heavy responsibility of putting the ministry back on track. All staff members must open their eyes to the critical situation now facing the ministry.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 6, 2018)
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