JCP begins investigating police misuse of tax money

The Japanese Communist Party on February 11 sent a team to Hokkaido to investigate the allegations about systematic misappropriation of public money by Hokkaido police headquarters earmarked for rewarding citizens for cooperation in criminal investigations.

The JCP action followed a revelation made by former top executive of Hokkaido police headquarters Harada Koji on February 10 to the effect that it has systematically siphoned off tax money for private uses.

The JCP stated that it will conduct hearings with the local audit commission and the Hokkaido prefectural government in cooperation with local lawyers' group and citizens' organizations.

Ohashi Akira, chair of the JCP members' group in the Hokkaido Prefectural Assembly said, "We'll make efforts to eradicate such a misappropriate use of tax money."

Reward money for investigations is normally paid to citizens who provided useful information or cooperated with investigators. Late last year, the public learned of off-the-book funds used by police when mass media sources obtained photocopies of false receipts. The JCP immediately took up this scandal in the prefectural assembly sessions.

More than half of the names written as Hokkaido police collaborators in its accounting reports were nonexistent, and even the names of deceaced were used in the reports. (end)