Contrary to the talk of reform Koizumi Cabinet tries to conceal fact of secret state funds: JCP

Apparently in a move to conceal the fact about the Cabinet Secretariat's secret funds being distributed to opposition parties, Finance Minister Shiokawa Masajuro again refused to confirm the remarks he made in a TV interview. This time he said his remarks were based on "illusions."

Shiokawa made this statement in reply to JCP Fudesaka Hideyo's questioning in the House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting on May 22.

In the House of Representatives committee meeting on May 15, Shiokawa stated that he did not remember making the remarks in question. Kokuta Keiji, JCP Diet Policy Committee chair, gave him a copy of the TV interview in which he made the statement.

Akahata's editorial of May 23 stressed that a test of the Koizumi Cabinet's "reform" is in making clear the facts behind the secret funds and ending money-driven politicking. The editorial said as follows:

"In the House of Councilors Budget Committee Fudesaka criticized the Koizumi Cabinet minister for trying to conceal facts concerning the secret funds on the pretext of loss of memory and of illusions.

Shiokawa's TV remarks were important because he gave details about how the secret funds were handled as part of the procedures in 1989 following the change of cabinet. No one but the person who directly administered the funds knew that reserve funds can be appropriated for diverted purposes and that a safe with secret code numbers always contained about 50 million yen (0.4 million dollars).

What Shiokawa stated in the TV interview can be confirmed by an internal document by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Furukawa Teijiro. The document had entries that show an increase of 500 million yen (4 million dollars) in the reserve fund in 1989, and an expenditure of 100 million yen (0.8 million dollars) to be used for the enactment of the consumption tax in the same year.

This clearly shows that tax money was used for party politics, specifically to enact the legislation for the tax increase in defiance of the strong opposition from the public. Only a very corrupt government can do such things.

Foreign Minister Tanaka Makiko in the past was critical for her own experience of being offered one million yen (8,000 dollars) as a parting gift. But as a member of the Koizumi Cabinet, she said in Diet questioning, "I didn't know if it was part of the secret fund." (end)