An investigation by Greenpeace Japan's Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, based on the whistleblower's tip-offs, produced sensational allegations of corruption, waste and official misbehaviour in the whaling program.
Japanese taxpayers keep scientific whaling afloat: last year, (Japanese Yen) ¥5.1 billion (about USD $60 million) of the Institute of Cetacean Research's ¥13.9 trillion operating expenses were met by interest-free public loans, ¥538m came as direct subsidy and another ¥404m as public research fees.The rest came from selling the meat of the whales killed by the fleet, the proceeds of a publicly funded activity. The public was being cheated, Greenpeace argued.
Sato and Suzuki, however, ended up in the dock.
