Since 2017, one forensic analyst in Saga, Kyushu Island in Japan, has falsified 130 DNA tests, all in order to look good to his boss.
However, despite the fraudulent tests and misplaced evidence, an internal investigation by local police determined that this had no effect on investigations or trials.
According to Asahi Shimbun, police confirmed on 8 Sept that the analyst had been sacked.
The former analyst, a man in his 40s, was first hired in 2012. Since his hiring, he has been assigned 632 DNA analyses.
Signs of his fraudulent behaviour were first observed in October 2024. According to Nikkei, his supervisor noticed inaccurate dates during the approval process for his documents.
An internal investigation later revealed that 130 cases, assigned as far back as 2017, showed signs of falsification.
Source: @tkzwgrs on X
In nine of the cases, he reported that no signs of DNA had been detected despite never having done the tests. In four cases, the analyst lost evidence after testing and replaced it with “substitutes”.
A total of 16 cases were referred to a prosecutor for further consideration.
Other falsifications mainly had to do with incorrect dates on official documents.
To check if the analyst’s fraudulent behaviour had any impact on ongoing investigations and trials, police performed tests on 124 cases where evidence was still available.
Eight cases show signs of discrepancies from the fraudulent results; however, none led to a positive identification.
Therefore, police concluded that “the investigations were not affected” by the analyst’s fraudulent behaviour.
“There has been no impact on trials,” one senior police officer said.
As for the motive, the analyst said he wanted to “look good”.
“I thought the process would be finished more quickly [if I did it] that way,” the analyst allegedly said.
Police also concluded that the reason this misconduct went undetected for so long was due to supervisors not being stringent enough in their checking.
In their apology, they said they will review their procedures to ensure similar incidents do not recur.
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Featured image adapted from @tkzwgrs on X.