August 19, 2026

The Takaichi Cabinet has spent over 855 million yen from the Cabinet Secretariat’s confidential fund since taking office last October. On August 17, Akahata learned this fact from documents obtained through an information disclosure request.

The Cabinet Secretariat’s classified fund does not require the disclosure of how the funds are used or the submission of receipts.

According to Akahata, the Takaichi Cabinet has been spending at a rate of 100 million yen per month. Furthermore, it regularly withdraws large sums of cash from the vault on the first Monday of every month. The Cabinet nearly exhausts the annual cap of approximately 1.23 billion yen every fiscal year.

Successive Chief Cabinet Secretaries have stated that the Cabinet Secretariat’s confidential funds are “expenses to be used flexibly to ensure the smooth and effective execution of national administrative affairs or projects.”

On January 5 of this year, just before Prime Minister Takaichi announced the dissolution of the House of Representatives on January 19, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru disbursed 109.5 million yen in secret funds. This further fuels suspicions that the Liberal Democratic Party has been misusing the funds for its own interests.

Past related articles:
> Cabinet uses 3.67 million yen daily in secret funds with no receipts [July 7, 2022]
> Ex-PM Suga should disclose information regarding over 1.2 billion yen in Cabinet Secretariat ‘secret funds’ [February 7, 2022]
> High court approves citizen’s call for transparency in Cabinet’s secret funds system [February 25, 2016]