Photo/Illutration Hiromu Kurokawa, the then chief of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, heads to his Tokyo residence in May 2020. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Tokyo prosecutors have brought a summary indictment against a former top prosecutor close to the previous administration for gambling on mah-jongg, reversing their initial decision not to indict him.

The special investigation unit of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office announced on March 18 that it filed a summary indictment against Hiromu Kurokawa, a former chief of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, on charges of gambling at the Tokyo Summary Court.

A simple gambling conviction would carry a fine of up to 500,000 yen ($4,590). The summary indictment is a simplified proceeding where the accused would not face a formal court trial unless the court decides otherwise.

According to an earlier announcement by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office and other sources, Kurokawa, 64, played mah-jongg for money with reporters of the Sankei Shimbun and an employee of The Asahi Shimbun at the Tokyo residence of one of the Sankei reporters.

The games took place on four occasions between April and May last year, during Japan’s first state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic. Most forms of gambling are illegal in the country.

During a typical mah-jongg session among the four, anywhere from several thousand yen to as much as 20,000 yen would change hands, sources said.

Kurokawa resigned as head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office in May 2020 after reports of the mah-jongg sessions surfaced.

After receiving a criminal complaint from a citizens' group, prosecutors launched an investigation and decided in July that year not to indict any of the four participants on the grounds that the amounts wagered were not large.

But prosecutors reopened the case after the Tokyo sixth prosecution inquest committee, which is made up of regular citizens, ruled last December that Kurokawa should have been indicted. The committee said that as top prosecutor, Kurokawa was supposed to have prevented the gambling and exercised self-restraint from taking part in illegal acts.

The ruling followed a request to investigate the matter, which had been submitted by a citizens’ group dissatisfied with the prosecutors’ decision.

In its ruling, the committee also said the decision by prosecutors to not indict the other three was inappropriate, citing a lack of investigation into their motives. But prosecutors again decided not to indict the three.

Kurokawa became head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office in January 2019. He would have reached the mandatory retirement age of 63 for officials in his position in February 2020.

But shortly before that, the administration of then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe changed the government’s interpretation of a law to extend Kurokawa’s retirement age.

The controversial change was seen as a way to allow Kurokawa, considered close to the Abe administration, to take over as prosecutor-general, the top post among public prosecutors.

Related News