Japan Post missing 30 billion yen in receivables

Japan Post had 30 billion yen in hard-to-recover receivables as of Dec. 31, 2002, due mainly to mistakes, embezzlement and theft, the Board of Audit of Japan said in a survey.

The largest portion — 11 billion yen — stemmed from its failure to collect a 20 percent tax on interest on “maruyu” postal savings accounts for people aged 65 or older and the disabled whose deposits exceed the 3.5 million yen tax-free ceiling, according to the survey.

About 6 billion yen in unaccounted for receivables resulted from illegal actions by postal workers such as embezzlement and theft, 6 billion yen was due to crimes committed by people other than postal employees, such as thefts of postal savings with stolen cash cards, and another 6 billion yen came from incorrect payouts of insurance money and savings.

The tally was based on audits of Japan Post and its predecessor, the Postal Services Agency, from fiscal 1993 to 2002, board officials said.

Commenting on the findings, a Japan Post official said the government-backed entity has not yet waived these claims on the claimable assets, saying, “We are keeping track of these receivables in an appropriate manner.”

But a board official noted that “It is necessary for Japan Post to enhance measures to prevent both illicit acts and simple mistakes by post office clerks.”

There were cases in which postal workers stole customers’ postal savings or revenue stamps. Japan Post is demanding that they return the assets.

But it is difficult to recover the 6 billion yen stolen by people other than postal workers, board officials said.

The failure to tax the maruyu accounts exceeding the 3.5 million yen limit first came to light following audits by national tax authorities.

Japan Post is asking the holders of these accounts to pay the tax after paying it to tax authorities on behalf of the account holders.

One case of an incorrect payout involved a son who canceled his parent’s “kampo” insurance contract without the parent’s consent and an erroneous payout of matured postal savings to the wrong person with the same name as the account holder.

Recently, there has also continued to be a string of incidents involving misconduct by postal workers.

A former postmaster in Chiba Prefecture was arrested last month and indicted on charges of embezzling a 750 million yen check that a corporate sender of direct mail handed to him. In August, an Osaka postmaster was arrested on suspicion of stealing 79 million yen from a post office vault.