Off a narrow corridor above a store selling Persian rugs in central Tokyo, a small office houses a private operation which won a tender in April ...
Off a narrow corridor above a store selling Persian rugs in central Tokyo, a small office houses a private operation which won a tender in April to distribute more than US$20 billion in government aid to businesses hit by the new coronavirus.
The arrangement led to confusion and delays for small business owners. Members of parliament have questioned how taxpayers' money was spent during a national emergency. "The whole thing is extremely grey," said Kaname Tajima, one of dozens of opposition members of parliament who are campaigning for the ministry to release full details of how the contracts have been handed out.
Yusuke Tanaka, the official at the ministry in charge of the payouts programme, said METI conducted a competitive tender and awarded the contract based on a comprehensive rating system. He said the ministry had not given preferential treatment to Service Design and Dentsu.
The next day, Dentsu announced on its website that in response to public reaction over its dealings with the government in the small business programme, it was conducting a review of its involvement in such projects. The company said it would not bid on any new contracts from METI until the review was complete.Abe told parliament in June the outsourcing had been carried out appropriately.
The world's sixth-largest advertising agency, Dentsu also works in public relations, market research and polling. Service Design competed for the relief contract with Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory, the ministry said. Deloitte had two meetings with government officials, one of them over the phone.
Japanese ministries are free to award contracts to bidders who intend to subcontract some of the work, but subcontracting more than 50per cent of a taxpayer-funded project is not normally advisable, governance experts say, citing standards issued by the finance ministry in 2006 to ensure transparency in public projects.
Added to this, Dentsu told Reuters in July it had decided not to lead the work itself after its accounting department advised that doing so would"impact the balance sheet and possibly hinder normal operations." It did not elaborate.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hong Kong to ban all restaurant dining, mandate masks outdoors to curb Covid-19 casesHONG KONG (REUTERS) - Hong Kong on Monday (July 27) will announce further restrictions to curb the surge in coronavirus cases, including a total ban on restaurant dining and mandated facemasks outdoors, media reported.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Read more »
Morocco shuts down major cities after spike in COVID-19 casesMorocco will stop people entering and leaving some of its biggest cities from midnight to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases, the interior and ...
Read more »
WHO says COVID-19 by far its worst global health emergencyThe new coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 16 million people is easily the worst global health emergency the World Health Organization ...
Read more »
ST Covid-19 Webinar: Experts on why vaccine is not panacea for coronavirus. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Read more »
Bavaria calls for mandatory COVID-19 testing for holidaymakersBavaria on Monday called on Germany's federal government to clarify how to quickly make coronavirus testing mandatory at airports to ensure ...
Read more »