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| Japanese official bows to media |
Officials of the Japanese Fishing Agency, which has oversight of Japanese commercial whalers, admitted publicly to accepting bribes of whale meat from private companies contracted to hunt whales. According to a Greenpeace Japan activist the agency only punished five officials, but the corruption is much larger and institutionalized. The gifts amounted to more than $3000. Australian opposition spokesman Greg Hunt said the public confession confirms "what everybody has always known: scientific whaling always has been, and remains, a sham."