Kagoshima Police Whistleblower Accused of Breach of Confidentiality, Kagoshima –The Kagoshima County Prosecutor’s Office in southwestern Japan on Friday charged a former senior Kagoshima Prefectural Police official for allegedly breaching confidentiality by leaking an internal document containing information about a police scandal.
Takashi Honda, a 60-year-old former head of the police’s community safety department, was arrested late last month on suspicion that he sent the internal document, obtained while in office, to a writer in Sapporo after his retirement in late March . .
During legal proceedings on June 5, Honda claimed that he could not ignore an attempt by the Chief of Police, Akiteru Nogawa, to cover up a criminal offense committed by a police official.
At a regular news conference on Friday, Nogawa reiterated his denial of the accusation, saying, “I never ordered a cover-up.”
In addition to the Honda case, Kagoshima police have been hit by a series of scandals this year, including three cases in which police officers were arrested. The KLPD is considering sending an inspector to the department as early as next week.
