The Fisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ) has admitted that their officials have received free whale meat from the company contracted to perform the whaling. They conceded that this ?kickback? was against their ethics code, apologised to the Japanese public and announced plans to take disciplinary action against five officials.

Such is the level of shame that one official even appeared on Japanese TV yesterday - bowing in front of the cameras before issuing a public apology.

In 2008, Greenpeace activists, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki (known as the ?Tokyo Two?), exposed a scandal involving embezzlement entrenched within the taxpayer-funded whaling programme - a ?scientific? programme responsible for slaughtering hundreds of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary every year. Following tip-offs from whistleblowers within the whaling programme and months of careful research, Junichi and Toru intercepted and handed to the authorities a box containing prime whale meat cuts. The contents of the box, which had been labelled ?cardboard?, proved that whale meat was being embezzled by members of the whaling fleet. Greenpeace Japan also exposed evidence that FAJ officials were involved in this process.

Sources: Greenpeace

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/Whaling-whale-meat-vindication-231210/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GPI%20Newsletter%20January%202011%20(1)&utm_content=

The tokyo two were sent to a year long prison sentence, but they have appealed to their conviction and are now awaiting a High Court hearing date.

HOPE ALL GOES WELL FOR THOSE BRAVE WARRIORS!!!

(I posted this on the ecogeneration site in January. Since then, the tokyo two have been vindicated!!)