February 25, 2016
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2016 February 24 - March 1 [POLITICS]
High court approves citizen’s call for transparency in Cabinet’s secret funds system |
The Cabinet Secretariat’s “secret funds” is public revenue which the Chief Cabinet Secretary can use at his/her own discretion. The annual amount of the budget for this fund has been nearly 1.5 billion yen in recent years and how the money has been spent is treated as confidential. It has been said that the fund system is used to win over opposition party politicians to support government policies and purchase tickets for political fundraising parties.
The plaintiff is Kobe Gakuin University Professor Kamiwaki Hiroyuki who is a member of a political fund ombudsmen group. In the lawsuit, he requested that the government disclose receipts, cash receipt books, and bills concerning 1.1 billion yen of the secret fund expended in 2005-06 by the then Chief Cabinet Secretary, Abe Shinzo, and 250 million yen in 2009 by Kawamura Takeo.
The high court in the ruling pointed out that among the requested materials, those which do not show the purpose for expenses and payees should be made public as they would not hinder the activities of the Cabinet Secretariat.
At a press conference held after the ruling, lawyer Sakaguchi Norio, who heads the counsel for the plaintiff, said that after nearly ten years of court struggle, the plaintiff achieved the ruling that would deliver a blow to the state obsession with secrecy. Plaintiff Kamiwaki said that it is epoch making that the high court also decided to order the disclosure of the information following the district court decision.
The plaintiff and his lawyers demanded that the government refrain from appealing to the Supreme Court and that the Diet discuss whether continuation of the classified fund system is justified.
Past related article:
> Court orders gov’t to disclose secret funds information [March 24, 2012]
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