年金記録改ざん

(Oct. 4, 2008) The Yomiuri Shimbun
SIA colluded with wicked employers
年金記録改ざん　悪質事業主と結託した社保庁（10月4日付・読売社説）

It now appears that corporate pension records have been doctored on a huge scale.
　厚生年金の記録改ざんは相当に大きな規模で行われていたようだ。

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe on Friday revealed that 1.43 million of 150 million pension records kept in the Social Insurance Agency's computers contain anomalies suggesting they were tampered with.
　舛添厚生労働相は、社会保険庁のコンピューターで管理している厚生年金記録１億５０００万件のうち、改ざんされた可能性のある不自然なものが、延べ１４３万件に上ることを明らかにした。

The number represents only those records made since March 1986, when pension record-keeping was computerized. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry should conduct further investigations into the problem and swiftly disclose the results.
　しかも、記録がコンピューター化された１９８６年以降に限って判明した分に過ぎない。厚労省は実態をさらに調査して、速やかに開示すべきである。

The corporate pension premium burden is borne equally by companies and employees, with the premiums being automatically deducted from each salaried worker's paycheck. The higher the salary is, the higher the premium and pension payment become.
　厚生年金の保険料は、企業と従業員が折半して納める。従業員の負担分は給料からの天引きだ。月給が高ければ保険料も高く、老後に受け取る年金も多い。

But the records in question show that the employees did not pay premium amounts corresponding to what was deducted from their salaries. What happened?
　ところが、天引き額に見合った納付記録になっていない、とはどういうことか。

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Thorough probe needed

In many cases, financially struggling companies are believed to have underreported their employees' monthly salaries to the agency. Doing so reduces a company's share of premium payments and allow it to use surplus funds from its employees' premium payments.
　多くの場合、経営の苦しい企業が社保庁に対して、従業員の月給（標準報酬月額）を低く申告したと見られる。事業主は本来納めるべき保険料が安くなり、従業員から天引きした保険料も流用できるからだ。

Furthermore, there are strong suspicions that the SIA gave tacit approval to this practice or even offered guidance on how to carry it out.
　さらに、こうした行為を社保庁職員が黙認し、指導までしていた疑いが濃厚である。

If companies whose premium payment are in arrears start paying premiums after pension records are doctored to reduce their burdens, the SIA's rate of premium collection will go up. The interests of wicked employers and time-serving SIA officials are served by doing so.
　保険料を滞納している企業が、記録改ざんによって負担が軽減した結果、保険料を納めるようになれば社保庁の徴収実績は上がる。悪質な事業主と姑息(こそく)な社保庁職員の利害は一致する。

"I surmise there has been organizational involvement of the SIA in this," Masuzoe said. But mere conjecture is no longer appropriate at this stage, when such a large number of records are suspected to have doctored. No stone must be left unturned in investigations into the SIA's involvement, and its responsibilities in this scandal must be identified.
　舛添厚労相は「社保庁の組織的な関与があったと推量する」としている。だが、これほどの数で改ざんの可能性があるというのは、もはや推量の段階ではあるまい。社保庁の関与を徹底的に調査し、責任を追及する必要があろう。

Of course, the most important task is to restore the right of victims of this scandal to receive full pension benefits.
　無論、最も大切なことは被害者の権利回復だ。

It is essential to urgently inform the holders of the dubious 1.43 million records, particularly elderly people living on pensions, of the problem. If their records are found to have been tampered with, the government must immediately provide relief to them.
　まず、１４３万件の記録の持ち主、特に年金の受給が始まっている高齢者には早急に知らせる必要がある。改ざんがあれば、ただちに救済しなければならない。

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Make data easier to decipher

Also, more effective steps are necessary to urge people to check their pension records.
　国民に対する年金記録確認の呼びかけも、一段と工夫が要る。

Letters currently being sent to pension subscribers informing them of their premium payment records do not include information about the benchmark salaries that were used to calculate their premium payments. It is, therefore, difficult for victims to spot irregularities from record-tampering, if any.
　現在届いている「ねんきん特別便」には、保険料を算定したその時々の標準報酬は記載がなく、改ざんされても気づきにくい。

The ministry plans to include benchmark salaries used for premium calculation in pension-record notification letters from next year. Even so, it is not an easy job for subscribers to determine if there are questionable points in the monthly salaries they received decades ago.
　厚労省は、来年以降の「ねんきん定期便」には標準報酬を記載する方針だ。しかしそれでも、何十年も前の月給に不審な点があるかどうか、見極めることは容易ではないだろう。

Soliciting ideas to make pension-record notification easier to understand from a broader range of people may well be needed.
　分かりやすい「定期便」にするために、幅広く知恵を募ることも必要だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 4, 2008)
（2008年10月4日02時11分  読売新聞）