Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2012 March 21 - 27 [POLITICS]

Court orders gov’t to disclose secret funds information

The Osaka District Court on March 23 ordered the government to disclose information regarding secret state funds without having to release the names of those who received the money and the amounts spent for each item.

The lawsuit was filed by a citizens’ group, called “political funds ombudsman”, calling for full disclosure of the use of the vast amount of money in the Cabinet Secretariat’s secret funds.

Every year, 1.2 to 1.4 billion yen is allocated to the secret state funds. The government has earmarked 1.23 billion yen for the secret fund in the FY2012 budget draft.

Kamiwaki Hiroshi, professor at Kobe Gakuin University Graduate School of Law, said, “The government has never released information regarding how the secret funds have been used. Therefore, the district court’s ruling is groundbreaking in that it has created a hole in a ‘black box’.”

The state will likely appeal the court decision, said Kamiwaki. “If so, we will demand the disclosure of more information that was not covered in the latest ruling,” he added.