Japan to Oblige Lawmakers to Disclose Allowance Uses

Tokyo, Dec. 20 (Jiji Press)--The Diet, Japan's parliament, enacted a bill Friday to oblige lawmakers to disclose the uses of allowances paid to cover the costs for documents, communications, transport and lodging, and return the amount unused.

The House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, unanimously approved the bill to revise a relevant law at a plenary meeting. The bill passed the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, on Tuesday.

The new legislation, which will come into effect Aug. 1 next year, will require lawmakers to submit to the Diet annually reports on the uses, along with receipts and other documents, and disclose them to the public. Details, including the scope of acceptable uses and the method of disclosure, will be worked out by the effectuation.

The so-called research, public relations and accommodation allowances of 1 million yen are paid monthly to lawmakers separately from their regular salaries.

They are called the "second salary" because there is no need to disclose how the money was spent and there is no punishment for misuse.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]