Second Death of Hyogo Prefectural Employee Uncovered

HYOGO, Jul 26 (News On Japan) - As power harassment allegations against the governor of Hyogo Prefecture continue to swirl, it has been revealed that another prefectural employee has passed away, with the prefecture delaying a formal announcement of the death by 3 months.

The employee was a 53-year-old former manager in charge of organizing the victory parades for the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes professional baseball teams and died on April 20.

The death of the former manager was publicly announced on July 23rd, raising questions about why it took three months to be disclosed.

"It was at the family's request."

Citing "the family's wishes" and "protection of personal information," the delay in announcement has been attributed to these reasons. However, Prefectural Assemblyman Takeshi Nagase points out:

"The prefecture never issued a formal announcement of his passing, leading to an unusual situation where his death was concealed from the public."

According to Nagase, there were efforts within the prefectural office to collect "scholarship funds for the children" of the deceased, which suddenly ceased.

"Not only was there no collection for the scholarship fund, but there was an atmosphere within the prefectural office that prohibited even mentioning the fact that this person had died. This has been the case for the past three months."

In Hyogo Prefecture, a former senior official, who internally reported seven issues, died on July 7th, stating that it was "a protest through death." One of these seven issues mentioned in the report involved the former manager who died in April.

"The victory parades for the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes were conducted without using prefectural funds, relying on donations that fell significantly short of the necessary amount. To cover the shortfall, the prefectural subsidy to a credit union was increased and then kicked back as donations. The manager in charge of the parade is currently on sick leave due to these irregularities and the difficult coordination with Osaka Prefecture."

Approximately a month after this whistleblower document was created, the former manager passed away.

"Although it states that the prefectural subsidy to the credit union was increased and then kicked back, I have never issued such instructions."

With two prefectural employees having died following the internal whistleblower report, the investigative committee set to probe Governor Saito's allegations will soon intensify its investigation.

Source: ANN

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