KOBE—A third-party investigative panel on March 19 concluded that Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito committed power harassment on several occasions and violated the whistleblower protection law with other prefectural officials.

The panel, consisting of six lawyers, including three former judges, submitted its report to the prefectural government after looking into the authenticity of a document accusing Saito and senior government officials of harassment and corruption.

The document was sent anonymously to media outlets in March 2024. It was learned that the sender was the head of the prefectural government’s branch office in charge of the Nishi-Harima region.

The official was later found dead in an apparent suicide last year.

The panel’s report said the distribution of the document constituted “external whistleblowing under the whistleblower protection law.”

Therefore, the report said, it was “extremely unfair” and illegal for Governor Saito and others accused in the document to search for the identity of the document’s author.

In addition, the prefectural government’s disciplinary action against the branch office chief for producing and distributing the document was “clearly illegal,” the report said.

It said that under the whistleblower protection law, no prejudicial treatment should have been given to the whistleblower.

As for the veracity of the allegations against Saito and the other officials, the report found that the document could be inferred to be close to the...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiVkFVX3lxTE9ldDg5U2IwcDJwZDJ4akNoLXlV...