Secret fund

In the 19th and 20th centuries, funds were referred to as secret funds , which were granted to the state government or a ministry through the budget without the need to disclose to the public about the use of the same account.

use

These funds were used for expenditure which for some reason should not come to the public's knowledge, which often seemed unavoidable where the purposes of foreign policy and the secret police were concerned. The approval of secret funds was always considered to be evidence of the special trust that a representative body had in the government. In Meyer's Konversations-Lexikon it says: “ However, it is not uncommon for individual governments, such as B. that of the Second French Empire , which misused the secret funds granted to them and, in particular, with their help caused pernicious corruption in the press ... "

Contradiction to the budget public

The constitutional principle of the budget public stipulates that the state budget management has to be done publicly.

The Federal Constitutional Court ( BVerfGE 70, 324 (358) ):

[T] he principle of budget publicity [applies] as a constitutional principle. It follows from the general public principle of democracy. But even in a democracy, as a look at the practice during the Weimar Imperial Constitution [...] and that of other democratic states [...] shows, it can be inevitable, for imperative reasons of the state's welfare, to refrain from disclosing details of certain secret funds [...]. Art. 110 1 para. GG does not require compliance with the principle of the public without exception.

See also

• Reptile fund

Web links

• Concerns about Bonn secret funds . In: Die Zeit , No. 44/1960
• Secret fund for anti-Linux discounts . In: manager magazin

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wissen.de ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ 4th edition. Vol. 7, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1885-1892, p. 462