Prime Minister Koizumi should account for how secret funds were used: JCP Shii

Concerning the alleged misuse of the Cabinet Secretariat's secret funds, which the Japanese Communist Party disclosed with internal Cabinet documents, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo on April 15 said Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro must be held accountable for the allegations about how the prime minister's Official Residence has been using public money.

In an interview on Asahi Newstar's TV program on April 16, Shii said that Prime Minister Koizumi should investigate secret state funds and money flows from the Foreign Ministry to Prime Minister's Official Residence, and make public all the facts about them.

Shii also said that the secret funds must not be used for the benefit of the ruling parties or politicians' private purposes.

Both Prime Minister Koizumi 0and Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda Yasuo are reluctant to investigate the issue. Shii stated that the prime minister's primary task is to investigate and explain.

Asked about his alleged receipt of 500,000 yen when he was then Liberal Democratic Party vice secretary general, Prime Minister Koizumi told the press that he doesn't remember what happened ten years ago and it is difficult for him to check whether it is true or not.

There is an argument in the ruling parties for a disclosure of expenditures of Cabinet Secretariat secret funds in a certain period of time, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda only said, "It is difficult."

Former Liberal Party House of Representatives Member Futami Nobuaki in a TV news program on the day admitted that the internal document revealed by the JCP was authentic. The document mentioned that he as then Komei Party Policy Research Council chair got an expensive suit from then Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Koichi.

National and local newspapers on April 14 and 15 reported the internal document disclosed by the JCP and called on the government to make an investigation and disclose the results.

The papers take a grave view of the use of secret funds for winning over opposition parties. A local paper stated, "This means that democracy is being warped by the power of money." (end)