TEPCO, TEPCO

16 Mars 2012

March 16, 2012

TEPCO admits hiring another former gov't official after Fukushima meltdowns

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120316p2a00m0na009000c.html

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced on March 15 that it hired another former public servant following the outbreak of the nuclear disaster in March last year.

TEPCO revealed that it hired a retired Japan Coast Guard (JCG) official as a temporary worker in April last year, a month after the outbreak of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, to capitalize on the former official's expertise.

The announcement came only hours after the Mainichi reported earlier the same day that TEPCO had hired a former Tokyo Metropolitan Government official as an advisor in September last year to collect information on the capital's energy policy. The ex-metropolitan official quit the post earlier this year.

The fact that the utility hired at least two former public servants after the nuclear crisis appears likely to draw further criticism of the utility, which has received massive financial assistance from the central government to deal with the nuclear catastrophe.

In defending the utility's employment of the former JCG official, a TEPCO spokesperson said during a press conference, "The former official has skills and techniques that our employees do not."

According to TEPCO, it hired the former JCG official on April 13 last year. The utility, however, withheld the worker's gender, title and duties, only saying that the person was "engaged in port-related work."

Overall, the utility had hired 49 former civil servants as of the end of February this year, including those recruited before the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Among the 49 former officials, seven were from the JCG, two from the Forestry Agency, two from the Meteorological Agency, one from the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, one from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, one from the National Police Agency, 30 from local police departments, and five from local governments.

Click here for the original Japanese story