In January 2020, bean counters at the Board of Audit noticed problems with monthly construction contract figures compiled by the infrastructure ministry for use in important government economic statistics and raised the issue with top officials there.
The ministry instructed the prefectural government officials in charge of collating the monthly reports from construction companies to stop falsifying the records, but the problem didn't stop there.
The ministry officials took it upon themselves to rewrite the monthly statistic figure, according to ministry sources.
A section in the section responsible for compiling the statistics said that a sudden decrease in the monthly figures would have a dramatic impact.
The data is used to calculate gross domestic product, among other things.
Infrastructure ministry officials said the practice of rewriting the monthly reports ended in March 2021.
The Board of Audit officials said they were aware that ministry officials were rewriting the reports after January 2020.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed Infrastructure Minister Tetsuo Saito to set up a third-party committee on December 16 to look into the scandal.
Kishida had been less enthusiastic about setting up a committee the previous day, but then an opposition lawmaker called for an investigation to determine the motive of the falsification and determine who ministry officials should be held accountable.
Kishida wanted a report from the investigative committee within a month of its establishment, so he could submit it to the statistics committee within the internal affairs ministry, which is in charge of fundamental statistics.
He made a pledge in response to questions at the Upper House Budget Committee by Shinkun Haku of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
At the same time, Saito acknowledged that ministry officials went about rewriting the monthly reports after the Board of Audit raised the matter in January of last year.
The investigative committee will be headed by Saito, who said he hoped that it would prevent a recurrence of such scandalous behavior and restore public trust in government statistics.
Haku also asked whether the reports' rewriting had any impact on the compilation of GDP figures.
The effect was probably small, according to the state minister for economic revitalization, Daishiro Yamagiwa.
Kishida and Saito said on December 15 that the situation improved after the Board of Audit raised the issue in January 2020. Kishida said the construction contract data had been revised from that date, so there wouldn't be a direct effect on GDP figures for fiscal 2020 and 2021.