Pork barrel rolling away from Tohoku

[yanpa]

Funds to help Japan tsunami victims find work spent in unaffected areas

Tens of billions of yen earmarked for employment schemes were allegedly spent on initiatives located far from tsunami-hit region
More than ¥100bn (£650m) of a special budget set up to help victims of Japan's March 2011 triple disaster find work has been spent on projects that have no connection to the tragedy, including cheese and wine promotions.

Tens of billions of yen earmarked for employment schemes was spent on a range of initiatives located far from the tsunami-hit region, such as counting sea turtles, publishing of a restaurant guide and publicising a mascot for a local prefecture, a Japanese newspaper said.

The evidence of wasteful public spending, uncovered by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, will come as an embarrassment to the government, months after it was revealed that a quarter of the ¥11.7tn the government initially allocated to rebuild the region had been spent on other unrelated projects.

The Asahi found that ¥108.5bn of the 200bn yen employment budget had been spent in 38 prefectures other than the nine that were affected by the March 11 disaster, in which more than 18,000 people died.

...motto...

[Russell]

Disaster relief funds used to count turtles, promote cheese, wine events

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Fair enough...I'm just fucken glad none of this pork is used to fund anything controversial, like, say, whaling...

[yanpa]

Fair enough...I'm just fucken glad none of this pork is used to fund anything controversial, like, say, whaling...

Most controversially, ¥2.3bn went to the fisheries agency to protect Japan's whaling fleet from harassment by the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Fair enough...I'm just fucken glad none of this pork is used to fund anything controversial, like, say, whaling...

Most controversially, ¥2.3bn went to the fisheries agency to protect Japan's whaling fleet from harassment by the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd.

Sorry, my post was supposed to be oozing with irony....

[yanpa]

Oh sorry, the radiation must have messed up my irony meter, I'll get it recalibrated

[matsuki]

Fair enough...I'm just fucken glad none of this pork is used to fund anything controversial, like, say, whaling...

Most controversially, ¥2.3bn went to the fisheries agency to protect Japan's whaling fleet from harassment by the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd.

Wasn't it Red Cross of Japan money going there as well?

Need to start an honest/transparent FG charity before the next disaster...

[Coligny]

Don't go there... The japanese redcross makes the yakuza look like girl scout...

[Russell]

Funds from disaster relief budget given to nuclear operators

Funds set aside to help earthquake, tsunami and nuclear victims have been allocated to power companies, officials in Japan said Friday, a move that could fuel fury among people who lost their homes.

About 10 billion yen of the 25 trillion yen pledged for disaster recovery over several years has been reserved to offset costs for utility companies that were ordered to shut nuclear power plants in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.

The news comes after it was revealed public cash had been used in areas seemingly unaffected by the natural catastrophe, including on beefing up security for Japan’s controversial whale hunt and on paying people to count turtles.

Officials said Friday that around 2 billion yen had already been given to Chubu Electric Power to help it make interest payments on bank loans taken out to fund the spiraling cost of fossil fuels.

Power companies had to ramp up their fuel imports to replace the power generation capacity lost when nuclear plants were shuttered.

Money was also used to provide heated water to local aquaculture facilities, which had previously received warm water from nuclear power plants, they said.

“The funds were meant to help utility companies cope with higher operating costs when the government ordered them to suspend nuclear reactors,” said a ministry official.

Currently all but two of Japan’s 50 nuclear reactors are mothballed, awaiting the greenlight over new safety standards and in the face of public unease about a once-trusted technology.

“Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe has ordered a re-examination of how the disaster budget is used, including the fund for utility firms,” said the ministry official, adding part of the monies should be returned to state coffers.

The remaining 8 billion yen has also been allocated to power companies but has not yet been disbursed.

While there is no suggestion of corruption, the admissions are an embarrassment for the Japanese government and are likely to compound the impression among the public that the country’s nuclear industry is in cahoots with the state.

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[Yokohammer]

Fucking unbelievable.

No corruption? Really?

Just total moral bankruptcy ... I guess it's OK then.

[Russell]

Yes, when you think it can't get any worse, it does.

I can't help but feeling like