Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shinzo Abe answers questions from a ruling party lawmaker during a Lower House Budget Committee session on Feb. 17. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Russian dramatist and novelist Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) penned a satirical play whose title is translated as "kensatsukan" (public prosecutor) in Japanese and "The Government Inspector" in English.

The play depicts a bunch of greedy, stupid and corrupt officials of a small Russian town, headed by the mayor.

The mayor mistakes a visitor to the town for an incognito inspector who was expected to come to the town to investigate the officials and bends over backward to entertain him at his home.

Since he has some dirty little secrets of his own that he doesn't want the inspector to find out about, the mayor gets all worked up. 

He treats the guest to lavish dinners and expensive liquors while heaping flattery on him and greasing his palm.

It seems politicians from any period or country fear investigative officials and try to win them over to their side.

U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be trying to influence prosecutors through brutal political pressure rather than placation.

In a recent tweet, Trump described federal prosecutors' recommendation that his longtime friend and political adviser Roger Stone serve between seven and nine years in prison as "very unfair."

Even more surprisingly, Attorney General William Barr responded to the tweet by scrapping the recommendation in favor of a far more lenient one.

Barr's action led one of the prosecutors in charge to quit the Justice Department, apparently to protest the president's efforts to influence the case through political pressure.

There is no consolation in saying that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration is not as aggressive as Trump in its efforts to intervene in the work of public prosecutors.

The Cabinet's decision to postpone the scheduled retirement of the head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office has raised suspicions that the Abe administration is plotting to appoint the superintendent public prosecutor, who is close to the administration, as the nation's top public prosecutor.

A string of scandals involving lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has led prosecutors to investigate allegations against them including bribery related to the government's plan to introduce casinos and involving election law irregularities.

Is the Abe administration trying to take full control of the appointments of top public prosecutors for political gain?

In Gogol's play, the real government inspector appears in the end, causing the mayor and other officials to become terrified.

The ending raises the hope that corruption will be eventually stamped out. If there is no such hopeful ending to the lingering problem of political corruption in the real world, it should be called a true tragedy.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 16

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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