Japan Press Weekly

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2014 September 24 - 30 [POLITICS]

Local JCP’s call for disclosure of use of public funds partly met

The Hyogo Prefectural Assembly on September 22 overwhelmingly adopted a bill to partly revise a prefectural ordinance in order to make public on the Internet how political activities funds are used.

The Japanese Communist Party members’ group of the assembly has submitted an amendment to the ordinance six times, calling for stricter rules on the use of funds and the clarification of how the money is spent.

The revised ordinance cuts the amount of political activities funds paid to each assemblyperson by 10%, establishes a third-party panel to oversee the use of the funds, releases political funds reports on the Internet, and disburses only the actual expense for accommodation local lawmakers incurred during official trips.

In Hyogo, former member of the prefectural assembly Nonomura Ryutaro and some other members have been under severe criticism for their misuse of taxpayer money.

The JCP in the assembly demanded that the allegations be investigated and that all assemblypersons’ spending for the past three years be checked to fully expose the improper use of public funds, apart from measures to prevent a recurrence of any misappropriation.

Neriki Keiko of the JCP in the assembly said, “The new ordinance still lacks the wording needed to establish facts about alleged misuse,” and stressed the need to further make the use of political activities funds transparent by means such as Internet publication of receipts.

Past related article:
> Use of public funds by local assemblypersons should be made transparent [September 5, 2014]