Japan Press Weekly

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2012 October 3 - 9 [POLITICS]

Noda’s 5 ministers get 62 million yen in savings from unused gov’t subsidies

The total amount of savings that the reshuffled Noda Cabinet’s 5 ministers made from unused government subsidies amounted to 62 million yen at the end of 2011, Akahata reported.

They are Minister in charge of post-disaster recovery Hirano Tatsuo, Education Minister Tanaka Makiko, Agriculture Minister Gunji Akira, Welfare Minister Mitsui Wakio, and Industry Minister Edano Yukio.

The DPJ distributed 10 to 12 million yen to each from annual government funds that the party received.

Based on the 2011 report regarding the use of public funds to political parties released by the internal affair ministry, Akahata revealed that among the 5 ministers, Hirano, Tanaka, and Gunji amassed more than 10 million yen in unused public funds.

Hirano added more than 3 million yen to the balance of 24.24 million yen at the end of 2010. Tanaka increased her savings by more than 4.5 million yen to 17.19 million yen, and Gunji accumulated 16.38 million yen.

Political parties, except for the Japanese Communist Party, every year receive a total of 32 billion yen under the government subsidy system. The system is funded by taxpayers’ money. Under the Political Party Public Subsidy Act, political parties have to return unused public funds to the national treasury in principle.