Governor Saito and others ``equivalent to non-prosecution'' due to leak of private information by Hyogo prefecture executives

The Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office was charged with violating the Local Public Service Act (duty of confidentiality) in connection with the leaking of private information by a former Nishiharima Prefectural Citizens Bureau director (deceased) who whistleblowed Hyogo Prefecture Governor Motohiko Saito and others. In March, the Kobe Second Public Prosecution Committee released a resolution stating that the non-prosecution of Governor Saito, former Deputy Governor Yasutaka Katayama, and former General Affairs Director Tomoaki Inomoto was "appropriate." The resolution is dated the 14th.

Hiroshi Kamiwaki, a professor at Kobe Gakuin University who filed the complaint, filed for a review in April, complaining that the district attorney's office found the charges against the governor and former deputy governor insufficient and suspended the prosecution of the former director of internal affairs and communications.

Suspended prosecution means that although the suspect is suspected, prosecution is postponed due to the circumstances surrounding the crime.

The Kobe Second Public Prosecution Committee said, ``After carefully reviewing the petition and the record of non-prosecution, the prosecutor's ruling was appropriate.''

The district public prosecutor's office determined that the private information on the former prefectural chief's official computer fell under the category of ``secrets'' that should be protected under the Local Public Service Law, and that the act of the former general affairs chief communicating this information to three prefectural assembly members in April 2024 amounted to illegal leakage.

On the other hand, the reason for not charging him in the criminal trial was that ``we carefully assessed the impact of disclosing highly private information in court.''

The governor and former deputy governor were accused of ordering or abetting the leak, but it was explained that ``sufficient evidence was not obtained to make a finding.''

In response to the resolution, Professor Kamiwaki said in an interview, ``In the report of the prefecture's third-party investigation committee that investigated the information leak, the instructions of the governor and former deputy governor were confirmed, and the leak by the former general affairs director was also acknowledged by the public prosecutor's office.The resolution equivalent to non-prosecution is a lenient judgment, and I cannot accept it.''