This handout photo taken on May 17, 2021, shows 60 million yen (US$550,850) in cash donated by an elderly man anonymously to Yokosuka City, Kanagawa prefecture. The government’s oversight of public funds expenditure has led to a sense of distrust among common Japanese in recent times. (Photo: AFP)
March 14 2023
TOKYO, Japan – A recent audit by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government concerning the use of public funds from an outsourced organization has revealed some shocking results. The audit found the organization in question (Colabo) did not submit all the receipts that accounted for their expenses, making it impossible for the government to fully understand how the money was actually being used.
The fact that this one organization did not submit all receipts raises questions about the transparency and accountability of all similar organizations that are publicly funded, and there are hundreds of them.
This is particularly concerning given that Colabo used $200,000 of public money, which is a significant amount, for what they claim was charity work directed towards helping abused women. But the startling fact is that there is no record of the women they have been helping, which makes it impossible to even verify if the very goal of the organization is being fulfilled. We know that similar serious charity organizations, even volunteering ones, do keep on record the beneficiaries of their charity.
Moreover, the audit also found that the organization went over its budget by $15,000, but the Tokyo Metropolitan Government did not seem to think it was a big deal. This lack of concern about overspending is particularly alarming.
It is possible that the money was spent on questionable items. As a matter of fact, a similar “charity” organization has already been investigated over accusations concerning the forcing of drugs on the very women they were supposed to help. We’ve already noticed how unashamedly the mainstream Japanese media literally deleted this news from their websites (you can read the article about the Hosanna House here).
Furthermore, the fact that Colabo was able to operate without being held accountable for their expenses is of huge frustration to the law-abiding citizen. If regular employees at any company must submit receipts for reimbursement, why should an organization that uses public money be exempt from the same level of scrutiny? March is the month when every Japanese person is called to this duty.
As tax season approaches, many regular citizens are preparing to submit their expenses in order to receive tax deductions. However, the recent revelations have left many taxpayers wondering why they are held to a higher standard of accountability than these public organizations. No wonder the online outrage after the audit results was huge.
Additionally, the organization has been accused of overspending on lavish meals and work-unrelated travel expenses.
For regular taxpayers who are struggling to make ends meet, it is difficult to understand why their tax dollars are being used to support a project that is not transparent about how they are using public funds. No wonder this lack of accountability has led to a sense of distrust of the government and the calling for the resignation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Governor Yuriko Koike.
Furthermore — and we have already stressed this important aspect — this lack of accountability can also undermine public trust in other organizations that are doing important work with the help of public funds. And this is already happening as we see more transparent not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) united in the same battle against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s audit results of last week: they fear their name will be forever tarnished in the eyes of the ever-judging public.
What’s more frustrating is that the diagnosis by the audit team was indeed accurate: Colabo was not accounting for their expenses. However, the prescription given to the organization was simply a slap on the wrist. Instead, the government should have demanded that Colabo provide all the receipts for their expenses so that they could have a full understanding of how the money was being used, while also showing actual evidence to the public that the system is not rotten to the core.
This lack of transparency raises serious concerns about the government’s oversight of public funds in general. The fact that regular citizens are held to a higher standard of responsibility than organizations that receive public funds is unfair and undermines public trust in the government. It will be interesting to see how this online movement spontaneously generated out of these recent scandals will affect the results of the next general election which the current Prime Minister Kishida has been hinting at before his planned tax hikes that will redefine the military budget. – UCA News
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
