Hyogo governor slapped with criminal complaint over information leak
Kobe Gakuin University professor Hiroshi Kamiwaki filed the complaint with the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office, alleging violations of the confidentiality duty under the local public service law. The complaint also targeted former Vice Gov. Yasutaka Katayama and Chiaki Inomoto, former head of the prefecture's general affairs department.
According to the complaint, Inomoto showed three prefectural assembly members in April 2024 a printed copy of the private information, which had been stored on a computer for official use. The information was regarding a former senior prefectural government official who wrote and distributed a document alleging harassment by Saito, and who died in an apparent suicide July that year.
Saito instructed Inomoto to inform the assembly members of the private information, while Katayama approved the leak after hearing from Inomoto about Saito's order, according to the complaint.
A third-party investigative committee set up by the prefecture said in a report May 27 this year that Inomoto leaked the private information, likely at the instruction of Saito and Katayama.
The committee found that there is a "certain persuasiveness" to the assembly member side's belief that the leak was likely aimed at weakening the credibility of the harassment allegation by casting doubt on the whistleblower's character.
Saito has denied his involvement, saying he never ordered the leak. He said the prefecture will not seek criminal charges over the matter.
The governor is subject to a separate criminal complaint, which alleges that he paid a public relations company for campaigning activities in the Hyogo gubernatorial election last November. Prefectural police and Kobe prosecutors raided sites linked to the company in February this year.
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