Governor Saito Motohiko of Hyogo Prefecture looks nervous. On December 25th, he appeared at the final witness hearing conducted by the 100-Article Committee. (Governor Saito Motohiko of Hyogo Prefecture *March this year) "Just because you are dissatisfied, creating a document containing lies during working hours and distributing it is disqualifying for a public servant." In March this year, a former director of the Prefectural Affairs Bureau created and distributed a document accusing the governor of power harassment and other allegations against Governor Saito. The prefecture took disciplinary action against the former director, but as some of the contents were true, the prefectural assembly established the 100-Article Committee to investigate the contents of the document, and is also investigating the fact that the accusatory document was not treated as a "public interest whistleblower" and the accuser was identified. Governor Saito has said so far... (Hyogo Prefecture Governor Saito Motohiko *September 5th) "(The prefecture's disciplinary action) can be handled legally and even in court. I don't think there's any problem." He has not changed his opinion that the former prefectural director's accusation letter does not constitute "public interest whistleblowing" and that there was no problem with the prefecture's response. After being re-elected as governor, the 100th Article Committee, which will be the final witness hearing, was held on December 25th. The biggest point of contention is about "public interest whistleblowing." First, a lawyer knowledgeable about whistleblowing was invited as a reference person, to talk about the prefecture's response to the former prefectural government director, which included searching for the accuser and imposing a three-month suspension on him as disciplinary action against the former director of the prefectural government's civil affairs bureau... (Attorney Yuki Daisuke, Nozomi General Law Office) "It says that you can't treat someone unfavorably or search for the whistleblower because of making a report, and if there is a possibility that they may be treated unfavorably when there are parts of the content that don't constitute a public interest whistleblowing, then people will be scared to report it. That's not good." Appearing in the afternoon, former Vice Governor Katayama, who was one of Governor Saito's closest aides, said, "It was a coup d'état by the former director of the prefectural government's civil affairs bureau," and expressed the view that "it doesn't violate the Whistleblower Protection Act."を進めていく。 English: (Former Vice Governor Katayama Yasutaka) "Various words like 'coup d'état', 'overthrow' and 'Make Katayama resign quickly' are being used. If the issue of (the former director of the Prefectural Affairs Bureau's) official computer comes up, I think that will be considered an improper purpose (on his part). (The Whistleblower Protection Act) has a clear provision that it only applies to internal reporting. (According to this commentary) it says that it does not apply to external reporting. There is a literal interpretation of the law. I would like you to consider which is more appropriate." Governor Saito, who appeared last, was... (Hyogo Governor Saito Motohiko) "Under that law (Whistleblower Protection Act), the response to the document (accusatory letter) of March 20 was appropriate. We have been consulting with the prefectural authorities and the prefecture's lawyers, so I believe that there were no problems overall. Once a misconduct that constitutes disciplinary action has been discovered, it is, in a sense, inevitable that we would take action in accordance with procedure. The personnel authority official at the time said so, and I believe that is correct." He once again indicated that he believes there was no illegality in the prefecture's response. ▼MBS NEWS HP https://www.mbs.jp/news/ ▼The latest news and special features are delivered every day. Please subscribe to our channel! https://www.youtube.com/c/MBSnewsCH?s... #MBSNews #MainichiBroadcasting #GovernorSaitoMotohiko #100ArticleCommittee #WhistleblowerProtectionAct #FormerViceGovernorKatayama #WitnessExamination