Japan Press Weekly

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2012 November 21 - 27 [POLITICS]

Secret state fund related info should be released: court

The Osaka District Court on November 22 ordered the government to disclose part of the record pertaining to 250 million yen of secret state funds used by the former government just before the change of power in 2009.

The lawsuit was filed by a citizens’ ombudsman group, seeking retraction of the state decision not to release records related to the cabinet secretariat’s secret funds.

In September 2009, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura Takeo of the Aso Cabinet, the last cabinet of the former Liberal Democratic Party-led government, used up 250 million yen of the secret state fund in just 10 days. The average monthly amount of the secret funds used is around 100 million yen.

In a similar lawsuit, the Osaka District Court in March ordered the disclosure of information relating to secret funds used during the period between 2005 and 2006 by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe Shinzo, the current LDP president.

At a press conference held after the latest ruling, plaintiffs’ lawyer Sakaguchi Tokuo stated that the court took “one step forward” from the previous ruling since the range of information ordered to be disclosed was wider than before. Meanwhile, it was regrettable that the ruling avoided making any decision regarding the suspicious use of the state funds by the LDP, he added.

On behalf of the plaintiffs, Matsuyama Naoyuki criticized the Democratic Party of Japan for betraying public expectations to improve transparency in regard to the state funds after it took power.

Since the DPJ became the ruling party in September 2009, the government has spent about 3.48 billion yen out of the secret state funds.

Lawyer Sakaguchi expressed, “The two rulings acknowledged that at least information related to the secret funds should be released. The new government which will be formed after the House of Representatives general election should fulfill this order.”