Board: ¥58 Bil. in Tax Money Wasted in FY22
17:11 JST, November 8, 2023
TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government wasted ¥58.02 billion in taxpayer money on 344 projects in fiscal 2022, which ended in March this year, the Board of Audit said in a report Tuesday.
Both the amount and the number of cases were higher than the previous year, partly because the board was able to conduct more on-site inspections as the COVID-19 crisis receded.
The wasteful spending cases included 285 “malicious” cases, including law violations, that involved ¥9.76 billion.
Wasteful spending related to the pandemic totaled some ¥22.02 billion in 93 cases, including one in which face masks purchased by a local government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus were stored unused.
In another pandemic-related case, an excessive subsidy was provided for the introduction of medical equipment.
The largest amount of taxpayer money wasted in a single case was some ¥13.45 billion in a project by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry in which screenings were conducted improperly over a subsidy for rice farmers who switched to growing other crops, such as wheat and soybeans.
The largest wasteful spender among government bodies was the same ministry, at ¥19.7 billion, followed by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, at ¥15.08 billion, and the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, at ¥6.06 billion.
The report also pointed to a malicious case involving ¥19.14 million in which the agriculture ministry created improper contracts over the procurement of domestically produced pork served at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Village in 2021.
"Politics" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
2024 POLLS: Ruling Camp Likely to Win Lower House Majority
-
Japan Election: Komeito Leader Keiichi Ishii Fails to Win Seat in Election; Party to Be Forced to Restructure Administration (Update 1)
-
Official Campaigning Kicks Off for Japan’s House of Representatives Election; Party Leaders Hit Campaign Trail
-
How House of Representatives Elections Work; Explaining Proportional Representation, Revival Victory
-
Early Voting Begins for Japan’s 2024 House of Representatives Election; System Becoming More Widely Used Since Introduction in 2005
JN ACCESS RANKING
- JICA Employee Suspected of Leaking Info on ODA Project in Manila; Bidding for Railway Renovation May Have Been Impacted
- G20 Sees Soft Landing for Global Economy; Leaders Pledge to Resist Protectionism as Trump Calls for Imported Goods Flat Tariff
- Japanese Automakers Team Up on Software Development; Aim to Compete with U.S., China in SDV Market
- 2024 POLLS: Ruling Camp Likely to Win Lower House Majority
- China Spokesperson Avoids Commenting on Hidankyo’s Nobel Prize; Claims Country Holds Antinuclear Stance