The new leadership has begun amid intense public scrutiny concerning the distance between politics and the prosecutors office. The leadership must continue to perform its duties with rigor and strive to restore trust.
Nobuo Inada has retired from his post as prosecutor general, and Makoto Hayashi, the superintending prosecutor of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, has assumed the role. "I will strive to exercise the power of the prosecution in good faith with strict fairness and impartiality," Hayashi said at a news conference. An apparent reflection of the sense of crisis over a scandal that has caused public distrust.
It all started in January when the government changed its interpretation of an existing law and decided to extend the retirement age of Hiromu Kurokawa, then superintending prosecutor of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office. Amid widespread speculation that the government intended to appoint Kurokawa as the prosecutor general, criticism of the government's intervention in prosecutorial appointments mounted.
A revision bill of the Public Prosecutors Office Law, which stipulates that the retirement age of senior prosecutors, including the prosecutor general, can be extended at the discretion of the Cabinet, was scrapped after strong public outcry. Kurokawa resigned after being reprimanded for playing mahjong for money.
The prosecution is a quasi-judicial body that has almost sole power to indict suspects: Its independence is essential. The episode has severely damaged public trust in the prosecutors office. Even among prosecutors, discontent is smoldering over the alleged political intervention that has led to the situation.
There is a need for urgent action to rebuild the organization under the leadership of the new prosecutor general.
Hayashi was in charge of reforming the prison system in 2003 following the death and the injury of inmates at Nagoya Prison and implementing reforms following revelations in 2010 of evidence falsification by the special investigation squad of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office. It is hoped that he will demonstrate his leadership based on his experience dealing with past crises.
Following Kurokawa's resignation, Justice Minister Masako Mori established a council of experts to reform legal and prosecutorial administration. The council will discuss prosecutorial ethics and transparency in the administration of justice, but coordinating the selection of committee members and setting the agenda has been difficult.
The prosecutors office was hurt by the 2010 scandal of evidence falsification. A panel of experts set up at that time studied the appropriateness of investigations, leading to the mandatory recording of interrogations.
It is hoped that the reform council will examine the efforts of the past 10 years and discuss thoroughly where the challenges lie.
Accountability is also important to build trust.
The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office indicted former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his wife in a bribery scandal linked to last year's House of Councillors elections, but did not indict local assembly members who allegedly received cash from them. Prosecutors should clarify the reason for that.
As prosecutors have great authority, they must be aware of their responsibilities as representatives of the public interest and be humble in their approach to avoid falling into a trap of self-righteousness.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on July 20, 2020
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