NHK slashes execs’ retirement pay

Japanese public broadcaster NHK is cutting the pension payments to eight of its former executives following a series of scandals.

Those receiving reduced lump-sump pension payments include Katsuji Ebisawa, who was forced to step down as president over his handling of a fraud scandal.

Ebisawa was driven into early retirement in 2005 after a number of scandals on his watch, including the embezzlement of production funds by an NHK chief producer.

At the time he had been president for more than seven years and was entitled to US$1.06m on retirement. NHK originally froze this, but current NHK president Shigeo Fukuchi has announced that Ebisawa will now receive a reduced payment of US$350,000.

Another former president, Genichi Hashimoto, who was forced to resign last year after an insider trading incident, has seen his retirement fund cut from US$378,000 to US$132,000. He had been president for three years and one month before his departure.

Fukuchi said that while Ebisawa and Hashimoto were responsible for scandals that damaged NHK’s reputation, they had also contributed to the pubcaster. “We couldn’t bring ourselves to not pay them anything. I think viewers will understand this,” he said.

Fukuchi said that similar payments to six other former execs had been cut by between 15% and 50%.

He said NHK had originally frozen the retirement pay of 13 executives in light of their management responsibilities and the public’s feelings about the scandals. Fukuchi added he would bring the issue to a conclusion during his term as president.