Possible forgery of official documents

December 19, 2014

TEPCO staff probed over document forgeries

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141219p2a00m0na018000c.html

Three branches of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) carried out cable construction work without permission from authorities, sparking a police investigation into possible forgery of official documents.

TEPCO announced on Dec. 18 that its branches in the Saitama Prefecture city of Kasukabe, the Kanagawa Prefecture city of Kawasaki and the Shizuoka Prefecture city of Mishima conducted 11 construction jobs including burial and installation of electric cables between July last year and September this year without permission from the national and local governments.

The utility said three male employees in their 20s through their 50s falsified application documents and permissions for occupancy of public roads. The three were responsible for making these applications, and apparently fabricated the documents for in-house use. Saitama Prefectural Police and other law enforcers are questioning those concerned on suspicion of possible falsification of official documents and sealed private documents.

According to TEPCO, the accused employees fabricated the documents by using permission numbers issued for separate construction projects that had already been completed. The irregularities were uncovered after local governments reported to TEPCO that they had confirmed unauthorized construction work was under way.

TEPCO denied the possibility of any systematic involvement in the cases, saying, "We believe the irregularities were committed by the respective employees in their attempts to prevent a delay in their work schedule." The unauthorized work took place on public roads and at parks in the Saitama Prefecture city of Satte, the Ibaraki Prefecture town of Goka, Kawasaki's Kawasaki Ward, and the Shizuoka Prefecture city of Numazu.

TEPCO slapped the employee in his 20s at the Kasukabe branch with a five-day suspension and reprimanded his three supervisors. The company is planning to punish the other accused employees at the Kawasaki and Mishima branches.

The utility will also investigate whether there were any similar irregularities at its 45 branches, which carried out a total of some 78,000 works over the one-year period up to November this year.

"We deeply apologize for the trouble we have caused. We will work to prevent a recurrence," commented a TEPCO representative.

December 19, 2014(Mainichi Japan)