Photo/Illutration A government building that houses the public prosecutors offices in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The job of public prosecutors is to fight injustice in the world, while their performance is checked by a prosecution inquest panel.

Are we to believe that this system functioned as it should, when the prosecutors, urged by a prosecution inquest panel, decided to indict 34 people, including local assembly members in Hiroshima Prefecture?

Those individuals accepted cash from former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his wife, Anri, during an Upper House election campaign for Anri three years ago. But only the Kawais were indicted for vote buying in violation of the Public Offices Election Law.

Predictably, the decision by prosecutors not to indict bribe-takers was questioned by a citizens' group. And just as predictably, a prosecution inquest panel ruled that 35 of the bribe-takers should be indicted.

The prosecutors deserved the embarrassment of having to be told by the panel to do what they should have done in the first place.

Could it be that their game plan was to covertly promise the local politicians immunity from prosecution if they would cooperate in the investigation, but the ploy somehow backfired?

Even so, it is inconceivable that those seasoned prosecutors would completely misread potential developments.

According to a story that ran in the March 15 issue of The Asahi Shimbun, the outcome was actually exactly what the prosecutors had in mind. Their plan in the first place, reportedly, was to only indict the bribe-takers if the prosecution inquest panel said so.

It can be said that the prosecutors used external pressure to double-cross those bribe-takers. Their game plan was not sloppy but sneaky and clever.

Of the 34 individuals indicted, the 25 who admitted their guilt only face a summary indictment, which spares them an appearance in court.

I can't help wondering if the prosecutors could also have calculated that since the scandal is already 3 years old, their leniency wouldn't arouse any criticism.

The prosecutors may well argue that some guile is necessary when trying to bring down high-profile politicians. But I think no one will take a backdoor deal like this with prosecutors in the future.

This is not a ploy that can work repeatedly.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 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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