Japanese police have searched the city hall of the prefectural capital of Toyama, central Japan, over the suspected padding of the city’s population for the 2025 national census.
Ten investigators from the Toyama prefectural police entered the Toyama City Hall on Saturday morning for a search of the division that handles the census.
Police say they searched for three hours and seized documents related to the census, as well as records of internal communications.
The move comes after the national internal affairs ministry filed a criminal complaint with the prefectural police on Tuesday over a suspected violation of the Statistics Act.
The ministry alleges that unidentified Toyama City staff overreported the city’s population in the census last year, by adding households with no actual residents.
The ministry and…
MANAGEMENT & CULTURE (THE “TONE AT THE TOP”)
Fraud thrives in “sloppy” environments where leadership ignores the rules.
- The Fraud Triangle: For fraud to occur, three elements must be present: Pressure (the need for money), Rationalization (thinking “I deserve this”), and Opportunity (weak controls). You can only control the Opportunity.
- Whistleblower Hotline: Provide an anonymous way for staff to report “odd behavior.” Most internal frauds are caught via tips, not audits.
- Background Checks: Conduct credit and criminal record checks for all employees in financial or data-sensitive roles.
- Annual Ethics Training: Make sure every staff member knows that the company has a Zero Tolerance policy toward “borrowing” from petty cash or fudging overtime.