Wasted taxpayer money hits high

Government offices and affiliated organizations wasted or misused a record 236.4 billion yen, including soaring amounts of unnecessary funds and assets at two ministries, according to the Board of Audit's fiscal 2008 report.

The sum was nearly double the 125.3 billion yen cited in the board's fiscal 2007 report.

The board's latest report was submitted to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday. It pointed out 717 cases of wasteful spending and improper accounting at ministries, agencies, their affiliates and local governments, which receive subsidies from the central government.

Some of the cases occurred earlier than fiscal 2008.

The surge was mainly attributed to the approximately 100 billion yen in "buried money," which the board described as unnecessary funds and assets, mainly at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

For example, the economy ministry created a fund amid a credit crunch in 1998 for 52 credit guarantee corporations around Japan to help small and midsized companies borrow money from financial institutions.

The board's report said 39.1 billion yen of the fund had not been used as of the end of fiscal 2007.

The board also examined office expenses and other spending from fiscal 2002 through fiscal 2007 at 26 prefectural governments and 15 city governments. The examination covered scandals involving officials pooling tax money at office suppliers and other contractors to carry over surplus funds to the next fiscal year for other inappropriate uses.

The board determined that 3.2 billion yen had been improperly processed. Half of the amount came from state coffers as subsidies, according to the report.

Among the 3.2 billion yen was 780 million yen that had been pooled at office suppliers and other contractors by 11 prefectural and city governments. Of that amount, 400 million yen came from the central government.

On the central government level, the Board of Audit found 70 million yen was improperly processed at the economy ministry's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, and 20 million yen at the same ministry's Kanto regional bureau. Both amounts included money pooled at suppliers.

The state-funded Japan External Trade Organization, supervised by the economy ministry, was found to have entrusted 20.4 billion yen with contractors for long-term investments. Most of that money came from a surplus fund, the board's report said.

The board specified 12.3 billion yen as improperly used.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and organizations under its supervision accounted for about half of the amount, or 6.1 billion yen, by overpaying subsidies for the national health insurance program and through other measures.

Another example of inappropriate spending mentioned in the report concerned the Japan Housing Finance Agency's loans to build rental housing for senior citizens.

Loans worth 41.7 billion yen, or 96 percent of the total loans extended in fiscal 2007 and 2008, did not match the requirements stipulated in the program. Some housing units built with the loans were advertised for students.(IHT/Asahi: November 12,2009)