If a lawmaker locates his or her political funds management body in an official Diet office, rent and utilities are free. Now it has come to light that two lawmakers' funding bodies reported unusually high utility expenditures. Earlier, it was found that the political funds reports of education minister Bunmei Ibuki, four other Cabinet ministers and two Liberal Democratic Party executives included questionable "office expenses," despite the fact that their PFMGs are located in rent-free Diet offices. The politicians involved should fully account for these expenditures. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been unwilling to force Cabinet members to do so and refuses to take action to rectify the flawed political funds reporting system.

Farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka's funding body claimed it spent 28.8 million yen on utilities at a Diet office for five years through 2005. His explanation -- that the use of a water purifier is responsible for the high costs -- is so ludicrous it would be laughable if public tax money wasn't involved. Because the Political Funds Control Law does not require lawmakers to present receipts for utility costs, the minister can say he has acted in accordance with the law.

While the opposition was assailing Mr. Matsuoka, Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker and former justice minister Hiroshi Nakai confessed that his Diet-housed funding body had incorrectly reported that 18.5 million yen had been spent on utilities for five years through 2005. The "utility" expenditures, admitted Mr. Nakai, actually included telephone bills, taxi fares, and money for extending congratulations and condolences.