Public Prosecutors Do Not Exercise Social Justice

An elite public prosecutor affiliated with Special Investigation Division (SID) of Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office resigned with disciplinary dismissal from his office. He had sexual relationship with a woman who was a suspect in a case which he had been in charge of. This is one of the extraordinarily many examples of public prosecutors, who are supposed to exercise social justices. 

Masahito Nishida has been known as the captain of SID investigation team on the slush fund scandal in 2023 in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in which party leaders with former Abe faction had received kickback fund on fundraising parties. Nishida was indicted with a charge of having inappropriate sexual relationship with a female suspect in a criminal case. He maintained that relationship with the woman for two years since 2024. The trial on Nishida is ongoing.

 

He spent nights with her in a hotel room which was reserved for investigation of other criminal cases and received electric money with value of 3,000 yen from the woman. Ministry of Justice found that Nishida’s activities would cause serious distrust on the pubic prosecutors office. Former and incumbent director of Tokyo SID was punished with failure in supervising.

 

The SID of Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is known as the organization of experts in criminal investigation on scandals in politics or major businesses. Arrest of former prime minister Kakuei Tanaka with charge of receiving bribe in the Lockheed Scandal in 1976 shocked Japanese citizens in the time of high economic growth in prewar era. Some may remind of a phrase of the SID director: “We never let the great evil sleep.”

 

Now, public prosecutors are the evil. Former chief prosecutor of Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office is suspected to have raped his female subordinate in 2018. He was indicted with charge of quasi-forcible sexual intercourse. The female prosecutor submitted a resignation to her office.

 

In October, 2025, a public prosecutor in Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office was punished with ten-month suspension of his position after he received benefit of dining and transport from a person of interest. A prosecutor in Saitama District Public Prosecutors Office leaked a woman crime history of a man with whom she had a trouble. The prosecutor kept relationship with her as he pretended not to be married. He was fined 300 thousand yen.

 

Public prosecutors made a historical mistake in Hakamada Case, in which the prosecutors fabricated hard evidence, which was a stain on a white shirt, that was used to prosecute Iwao Hakamada with murder of families. The fabrication was proved by scientific review and Hakamada escaped death penalty after a retrial. Nevertheless, public prosecutors tried to reserve their authority to refuse retrials in the discussion over the retrial bill in the Diet.

 

The Prosecutor General, Naomi Unemoto, who made the first female prosecutor general, apologized on scandals of public prosecutors under her watch for two years. “This is very regretful and sorry,” said Unemoto in her press conference on leaving her office. But she showed no specific idea to prevent scandals in the public prosecutors office.

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