TOKYO: Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office head Hiromu Kurokawa has decided to resign over alleged playing of mahjong for money during Japan's coronavirus state of emergency, Jiji Press learned Wednesday.

The resignation of Kurokawa, 63, superintending prosecutor at the office, will deal an additional blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration, which has suffered drops in public support amid mounting criticism of its response to the coronavirus crisis.

Only on Monday, the administration gave up an early enactment of a package of legislation including a prosecutor offices law revision. The amendment drew many protests from the public as it was widely viewed as a measure to justify an unprecedented government decision in January to extend Kurokawa's tenure beyond the retirement age.

The Shukan Bunshun magazine made an online report Wednesday that Kurokawa played mahjong for money with newspaper employees this month despite stay-at-home requests from authorities amid the COVID-19 emergency.

The government is considering when Kurokawa should resign, partly because his departure will affect the appointment of his successor, according to government and ruling coalition sources.

In the wake of the report, Noritoshi Ishida, policy head of Komeito, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner, demanded at a press conference that Kurokawa resign, saying, "If (the report) is true, he cannot continue his duties."

"Kurokawa will have to quit shortly," said an LDP member who was a cabinet minister. "It's unforgivable for the person who is supposed to crack down on illegal gambling to play mahjong for money."

In the opposition camp, Jun Azumi, parliamentary affairs chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters, "It's impossible for him to fulfill his duties as superintending prosecutor."

The magazine article said Kurokawa visited a Sankei Shimbun reporter's home on May 1 and played mahjong as a betting game with others including an employee of the Asahi Shimbun, another major Japanese daily, until the small hours of the following day. The prosecutor was also alleged to have played mahjong on May 13, the day before the partial lifting of the coronavirus emergency.

At a separate news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment directly on the report, only saying, "The Justice Ministry will deal with the matter appropriately."

Meanwhile, the Asahi Shimbun admitted that its employee in his 50s played mahjong with Kurokawa and apologized for the inappropriate act under the state of emergency. The Sankei Shimbun refused to make a comment.

Kurokawa, reportedly close to Abe's administration, has already been embroiled in a controversy over his half-year tenure extension, which the cabinet decided by suddenly changing its legal interpretation just before he turned 63 in February to reach the retirement age for prosecutors.

The action raised speculation that the administration intends to promote Kurokawa to the country's top prosecutor who will succeed Prosecutor-General Nobuo Inada, set to retire this summer.

Kurokawa became a prosecutor in 1983. He spent a long time in the Justice Ministry, serving as deputy vice minister and vice minister for more than seven years in total before assuming his current post in January 2019.

JIJI Press