Ex-MOF Worker's Widow Loses Damages Suit over Paper Tampering

Osaka, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)--Osaka District Court on Friday dismissed a damages lawsuit over a document-tampering scandal at the Ministry of Finance filed by the widow of a former ministry official who committed suicide.

The widow of Toshio Akagi, a former employee at the ministry's Kinki Local Finance Bureau, filed the suit against Nobuhisa Sagawa, former director-general of the ministry's Financial Bureau, seeking 16.5 million yen in damages.

"It is difficult to find a legal basis for recognizing the individual responsibility of a public servant," Presiding Judge Akira Nakao said.

Sagawa also served as commissioner of the National Tax Agency.

The widow, Masako, 51, claims that her husband killed himself in 2018 at age 54 after being ordered by then Financial Bureau head Sagawa to tamper with documents related to the discount sale of state land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen, once linked to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]