Governor Saito faces criminal complaint over information leak
The complaint was submitted to the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office on June 10 by Kobe Gakuin University professor Hiroshi Kamiwaki.
It accuses Saito, former Vice Governor Yasutaka Katayama, and Chiaki Inomoto, former director of the prefecture's general affairs division, of violating confidentiality obligation stipulations in the Local Public Officer Law.
The whistleblower, who headed the prefectural government's branch office in charge of the Nishi-Harima region, had prepared a document that accused Saito and his top officials of power harassment and corruption. The document was sent anonymously to media organizations in March last year.
But the identity of the whistleblower was uncovered. And private information about him was leaked to prefectural assembly members.
He was found dead in July.
'I believe this is an organized crime carried out on the orders from the governor and the former vice governor,' Kamiwaki said. 'I hope the criminal allegations will lead to the truth being revealed.'
Saito told reporters on June 11 that he takes the criminal complaint seriously.
'I will cooperate with the investigation,' he said.
But he again insisted he never gave instructions for the information leak.
'As the prefectural government, we have already concluded this issue after conducting the investigation and deciding on disciplinary measures against the former head of the general affairs division,' the governor said.
The criminal complaint is based largely on a report released last month by a third-party investigative committee set up by the prefecture.
The committee concluded that Inomoto had leaked the information to three prefectural assembly members, and that the act was 'highly likely to have been ordered by the governor or the former vice governor.'
The criminal complaint alleges that Inomoto leaked secrets he learned in the course of his duties, and that Saito and Katayama either ordered or encouraged the move.
Kamiwaki said in the complaint that the three people tried to 'deny the credibility of the accusations from the deceased official through the leak in an attempt to protect themselves.'
(The article was written by Kai Nemoto and Itsuki Soeda.)
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