YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A longtime worker at the base Ship Repair Facility has been placed on leave while criminal investigators look into what the Navy is calling a possible long-term "misallocation of resources” at the facility.

The employee, a Japanese national working at SRF on Sept. 3 was put into a “non-working status for alleged misconduct,” according to Mike Chase, a Yokosuka base spokesman. Chase said he knew neither whether the employee still was being paid nor how long he’d been an SRF employee, other than a long time.

According to a Japanese newspaper citing no sources, the case could involve $1.8 million gained over the past decade through fake procurement orders and could involve more than one worker. Chase would not confirm that report.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened an investigation into the SRF some months ago. Chase said the investigation began after an anonymous tip to the Investigator General that then was sent to the SRF’s commanding officer. With more than 2,000 employees, most of them Japanese nationals, the SRF is Yokosuka’s largest tenant command.

According to Chase, any criminal charges against any SRF employee would have to be brought by Japanese prosecutors. Chase said NCIS would forward a copy of its completed investigation to Japanese authorities. He also said base officials would provide more information about the matter after the investigation was completed, although he said he didn’t know when that would be.

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