Former Top Prosecutor Faces Summary Indictment
A former high-ranking Japanese prosecutor is facing summary indictment for gambling on mahjong amid a coronavirus state of emergency.
Kurokawa Hiromu, who headed the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, stepped down after being reprimanded last May for playing mahjong for money with two newspaper reporters and one former reporter in Tokyo twice earlier that month.
A citizens' group filed a criminal complaint with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office against Kurokawa and the three others, but prosecutors decided in July not to indict them. They said not much money had changed hands in a day.
In December, a prosecution inquest panel composed of randomly-chosen citizens decided Kurokawa should be indicted.
Prosecutors reviewed the case and brought a summary indictment against Kurokawa on Thursday.
If the Tokyo Summary Court decides the prosecution's request is appropriate, Kurokawa will be ordered to pay a fine. If he pays it, he will not face trial.