Arab News Japan

TOKYO: SATO Makoto, a former national police detective, on Friday revealed information on the suspicious death of the ex-husband of the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary’s wife.

YASUDA Taneo’s death in 2006 was ruled a suicide and blamed in part on drug taking by the deceased who was found with his throat cut.

Yasuda’s then-wife is now the wife of KIHARA Seiji, a close confidant of Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio.

The wife, who previously worked as a bar hostess, allegedly confessed to murdering her husband. It was some years later that she met Kihara, had a child and subsequently married the politician.

The investigation was reopened in 2018, 12 years after the incident, and Sato was appointed as the first investigator. But the investigation was suddenly suspended in May of the same year.

During the press conference, the former investigator in charge of the case said it was a murder and not a suicide and the investigation was dismissed because of political and hierarchical pressure. Sato said he was speaking out to convey to youngerpolice officers that they should continue their investigative work without being subject to outside pressure.

Kihara is an important man in the Kishida government. At this stage of the investigation, his wife is still presumed innocent of the accusations leveled against her.

The revelations have been published in the Shukan Bunshun magazine, which has been threatened with libel proceedings by Kihara.