KOBE—A union here effectively demanded the resignation of Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito following the sudden death of a prefectural official who accused him of power harassment and corruption.

The official, 60, was scheduled to testify as a sworn witness on July 19 before a special investigation committee set up by the prefectural assembly to look into his accusations against Saito.

The official was found dead at a house in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, on the night of July 7 in a possible suicide, sources said.

He had been suspended from work for three months since May as a disciplinary measure.

“We expect the governor to take the maximum responsibility he can take,” Setsuo Tsuchitori, chairman of the Hyogo prefectural workers’ union, which represents about 4,000 members, said on July 10.

He submitted the union’s statement to Deputy Governor Yasutaka Katayama.

“With the execution of front-line operations severely hindered, the prefectural administration has stagnated, and there is no longer any hope of restoring the trust of prefectural residents,” the statement said.

Saito, 46, denied any intention to resign at a news conference on July 10.

“To work toward a better prefectural administration, I will try to rebuild trust with prefectural employees step by step through daily work and dialogue,” he said.

The governor told reporters on July 8, referring to the official’s death: “I am shocked and confused. I would like to offer my sincerest condolences.”

He also said he surmises that the official may have been feeling a psychological burden about his committee appearance.

The official distributed a document outlining his accusations to some prefectural assembly members and media organizations in mid-March, when he headed the prefectural government’s branch office in charge of the western Nishi-Harima region.

Saito called the seven-point document “a whole bunch of lies” at a news conference at the end of March.

He also said the official was “disqualified as a civil servant,” saying he prepared the document during business hours.

The official was scheduled to retire at the end of March, but the prefectural government canceled the retirement on grounds that he might face disciplinary measures.

In the document, the official said Saito accepted a high-end coffee maker after he inspected a home appliance maker in the prefecture last summer.

It emerged in April that the director of the prefectural government’s industry and labor department, who accompanied Saito during the inspection visit,  received a coffee maker.

In May, the prefectural government concluded after an investigation that the core part of the document is “untrue” and suspended the official for three months.

At the request of the prefectural assembly, Saito announced that the prefectural government will appoint a third-party panel to investigate the accusations.

But the prefectural assembly in June decided to establish a more powerful special investigation committee based on the Local Autonomy Law.

A prefectural assembly member who voted for the creation of the committee said prefectural government officials called for a thorough investigation after the official’s death came to light on July 8.

“The series of problems originated with the governor,” the assembly member said. “We must continue to pursue (his responsibility) as aggressively as ever.”

A prefectural assembly member who has backed Saito said it was a blunder “of historic proportions” for the governor to deny the accusations even before the prefectural government released the results of its investigation.

“He should have moved forward after acknowledging what he should acknowledge and saying he was sorry,” said the assembly member, who belongs to the Liberal Democratic Party.

A senior prefectural government official who has supported Saito said the official’s death has called the governor’s moral responsibility into question.

“We cannot protect the governor anymore,” another senior official said. “Now, we should protect prefectural government employees.”

The dead official had also accused Saito of power harassment against prefectural officials and receipt of goods from businesses in the prefecture.

In addition, he said prefectural officials improperly helped Saito’s campaign in the 2021 gubernatorial election, and that senior prefectural officials inappropriately collected donations for a professional baseball victory parade last autumn.

The special investigation committee on June 27 decided to summon the official for a session on July 19.

The prefectural assembly’s secretariat, which was coordinating the official’s committee appearance, received documents in an email from the official in the morning of July 7.

Kenichi Okutani, a prefectural assembly member and chairman of the investigation committee, said he received an email from the official last week.

The official asked that the privacy of individuals be respected during committee proceedings, according to Okutani.

(This article was written by Takeshi Shimawaki and Takako Ishida.)