Another reminder that not everyone in Shiga’s government is upright and honest.
On March 30, 2009, the prefectural government announced that they found at least 44 suspected cases of slush funds or suspicious accounting created for illicit purposes by prefectural government departments and employees. The alleged backdoor money (called uragane 裏金) totaled at least 6.9 million yen.
Bank accounts with fake department names (like 「コナンドボクジムショ」「シガケンドボクジム」) were created to receive the money and numerous withdrawals were made.
Not only that, gift certificates and taxi coupons purchased since 15 years ago were found to be unaccountable in 25 departments and sections including the governor’s office, Board of Education, and health and welfare section.
At a press conference, Lieutenant Governor Sawada apologized to the people of Shiga and vowing to introduce countermeasures to prevent a recurrence.