tokyo

Five research-related faculties and four research institutes at Kyoto University are under investigation for allegedly ‘hiding’ unspent research funds. Such funds should have been returned to the government at the end of the fiscal year.

The Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Monbusho) disburses funds to national universities in July. But money not spent by the beginning of the next fiscal year, on 1 April, must be returned by law.

Last week, university administrators at Kyoto announced that tens of millions of yen have been hidden over a five-year period. Members of the departments under investigation — which include the faculties of pharmacology, engineering, science, and the institutes of chemistry and virology — are believed to have deposited unused money with several research equipment suppliers. These suppliers are alleged to have issued fake statements and kept the money until the next fiscal year.

Many researchers are unhappy about the inflexibility of the current arrangement, which means that departments often have either too little or too much money. “If we do not use up the allocated money, our budget might get cut,” says a professor from one of the institutes under investigation.

Administrators say that the ‘hidden’ money, first discovered in April this year, “will be returned to the government, depending on the result of the investigation”.