Aichi-based Care for Disabled Management Company ‘Megumi’ to be Investigated over Alleged Overcharging and Fraud

By Barrier Free Japan with extracts from The Kyoto Shimbun & The Tokyo Shimbun

October 8 2023

SHIGA – A group home (GH) for people with disabilities ran by the ‘Megumi’ Corporation that was scheduled to open in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, on October 1st continues to be unable to accommodate residents.

In an interview with Kyodo News, several former employees of the ‘Megumi’ Corporation, a major operator of group homes for the disabled that has been found to have overcharged residents for food, testified that the company had created false service provision records that differed from the actual situation and that the entire organization had been receiving improper compensation for welfare and medical services for the disabled.

The former employees testified that the company had created false service provision records that were different from the actual situation and that the entire organization had fraudulently received compensation for disability welfare and medical services.

This was confirmed by reading LINE messages exchanged between executives and employees.

Megumi operates approximately 120 GH facilities for people with intellectual and mental disabilities in 12 prefectures in the Tokai and Kanto regions. It also operates day-care facilities, home nursing stations, and after-school day care services for children with disabilities.

A former employee who worked at a GH in Aichi Prefecture until several years ago testified that the company “wrote the names of staff not actually assigned to the facility in its performance records and pretended that it met the staffing standards.”

The government is aware of this information, and Megumi’s main business area, Aichi Prefecture, local governments, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare are expected to investigate the facts in the future.

Megumi responded in an interview stating: “There is no evidence of wrongdoing.”