Japan Arrests Four Over CW Disposal Scandal

Japanese authorities today detained four business executives suspected of misusing $1.2 million in government funds intended for eliminating Japanese chemical weapons abandoned in China at the end of World War II, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 1).

All four were one-time heads of Pacific Consultants International, including former president Tamio Araki.  Formal charges have yet to be filed, but the suspects have been linked to misappropriation of government money and to inflation and fabrication of expenses in 2004 and 2005 through a subsidiary firm, Abandoned Chemical Weapons Disposal Corp.

Japan has until 2012 to complete reclamation and disposal of abandoned chemical weapons in China.  So far, only about 10 percent of the roughly 400,000 weapons have been reclaimed, and construction of a planned disposal facility has not yet begun (Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, April 23).

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