Yomiuri TV Employee Fraudulently Claimed About 1400 Million Yen and was Dismissed for Disciplinary Reasons

Coincidentally, on November 28, the same day that NTV affiliate NIHONKAI TV was reported to have embezzled donations for “24-Hour TV,” another affiliate, Yomiuri TV, was also reported to be involved in a problem of improper billing by an employee of the same station.

 

YTV announced that Mr. X, a male manager in his 40s in the production department, had improperly received a total of 13.83 million yen as program production expenses, and dismissed him on disciplinary grounds. Since he is willing to repay the money, the company does not intend to file criminal charges.

When Mr. X was in charge of the music program “Kamioto Yoru,” he gave receipts for his own meals and drinks to the program’s production company, had the company charge Yomiuri TV for additional production expenses, and received a total of 8,770,000 yen in cash as kickbacks. In addition, a total of 5.06 million yen, including unaccounted-for “pooled funds,” was improperly billed. The program will be suspended within this year.

We asked a TV station official who knows Mr. X about the inside story.

“The production company that Mr. X had his eye on was a small, independent company with only a few directors. The president of the company was himself a director, so he was close to Mr. X. Accounting and other matters were at his discretion. A major production company would not be able to manage in such a zaru way because the accounting department keeps a close eye on things.”

“However, the accounting department at Yomiuri TV became suspicious and discovered that the budget was being exceeded one after another. There is a victim aspect in that the production company had no choice but to do as Mr. X said as long as they were getting work. Yomiuri TV-like has temporarily suspended business with that production company until the investigation is completed, but, nevertheless, they will let it fade away as it is surely a company not worthy of trust.”

According to the source, Yomiuri TV has in the past often dismissed employees who have caused problems after discussions with them, but this time the company took the situation seriously and “dismissed” them on disciplinary grounds. This was the first time in 20 years.

What kind of person is Mr. X?

 

“He has been in charge of “Osaka Honwaka TV,” “Best Hit Song Festival,” and many other production programs. He was just appointed chief producer of “Himitsu no Kenmin Show Kyoku” this summer, and the fact that he is in his 40s and heading a major prime-time program is also an indication of his excellence.”

“Mr. X is said to have told us that he was unable to cut off receipts due to an in-house rule prohibiting dinners at the time of the COVID-19 crisis, and that this led to the fraudulent billing. It is said that when casting high-profile artists for major music programs, etc., it was necessary to entertain entertainment industry heavyweights. However, I’m not sure how much of that is true. It is possible that it is just an excuse.”

Mr. X is known even within the station to have had a flamboyant private life. According to the source, Yomiuri TV’s annual income exceeds 10 million yen at the age of around 30, and Mr. X’s income is probably much higher than that.

Nevertheless, it is morally unforgivable if he was forcing subcontractors to pay him fraudulent bills by using their work as bait. It can only be said that he got what he deserved when he was fired for his power and self-interest.