KOBE -- The Hyogo Prefectural Assembly's special committee investigating power harassment and other allegations against Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito and others drew up a final report on March 4, condemning the prefecture's disclosure and punishment of a whistleblower over the case as problematic.
The final report, which is not legally binding, was adopted at a plenary session of the prefectural assembly on March 5. It stated that Saito and other prefectural officials' actions of identifying and publicly announcing the whistleblower and imposing disciplinary action against him were "an inappropriate response that could be construed as busting the whistleblower" and that "those measures lacked objectivity and fairness, and were highly problematic."
The final report also made reform recommendations over matters which have been recognized as problematic. The prefectural government will accordingly be pressed to act based on the report.
Recognition of governor's power harassment
In March 2024, the then director general of the Nishiharima District Administration Office of the prefectural government distributed anonymous documents to some media organizations and prefectural assembly members, accusing Saito over seven cases of allegations including power harassment. At a regular press conference on March 27 that year, Saito disclosed that the director general was the whistleblower and removed him from his position. The director general had also reported to the prefectural...
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