MIYAGI (TR) – The town of Yamamoto on Tuesday announced severe disciplinary actions against three municipal employees, including a couple who repeatedly engaged in sexual acts on government property and a young clerk who broke into the office at night to forge official documents, reports Sendai TV (Oct. 20).
The penalties, which took effect on October 16, underscore a shocking lack of discipline within the mayoral administration department.
According to town officials, a 49-year-old male team leader and a 44-year-old female senior staff member were handed six-month and two-month suspensions, respectively. Between July and November of last year, the pair engaged in inappropriate behavior, including embracing inside the municipal office and having sex multiple times inside a personal vehicle parked on the town hall premises.
Investigations confirmed that some of these sexual acts took place during the male official’s working hours.
The investigation also revealed that over a period of several months, the pair spent work hours exchanging private messages on their smartphones. During this time, the man leaked confidential information regarding personnel reshuffles to his lover.
In a separate and equally brazen case, a 26-year-old male clerk in the same department was dismissed from his post.
Between June and July of this year, the clerk intentionally left a door unlocked so he could illegally enter the town hall late at night. Once inside, he used his own computer and those of other employees to gain unauthorized access to internal shared folders, where he viewed, manipulated, and deleted data.
The clerk also went to extreme lengths to cover up his neglected administrative duties. He handed over contracts to two contractors stamped with the mayor’s seal without authorization, forged his superior’s seal to pass off pending documents as approved, and created counterfeit revenue stamps by scanning the stamp portion of existing documents.
Yamamoto town mayor Shinichi Hashimoto issued a public apology over the overlapping scandals.
“This is unacceptable behavior for members of society, let alone public servants,” Hashimoto said. “It is nothing short of a betrayal of the townspeople, and we deeply apologize for severely damaging trust in our municipal administration.”