Takashi Kobayashi, the chief prosecutor at the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office, intends to resign to take the blame for the fabrication of investigative evidence and subsequent coverup involving subordinates, sources said.
Hideaki Tamai, ex-No. 2 at the Osaka office who now serves as deputy chief prosecutor at the Osaka High Public Prosecutor's Office, has also expressed his intention to step down, the sources said.
The Justice Ministry earlier decided to dismiss Hiromichi Otsubo, 57, who headed a special investigative squad of the Osaka prosecutor's office, and his 49-year-old deputy, Motoaki Saga, who have both been arrested on suspicion of covering up evidence-tampering by one of their subordinates, Tsunehiko Maeda.
Meanwhile, Masaharu Miura, who served as the top prosecutor at the Osaka office until January, has expressed his intention to resign from his current post of chief prosecutor at the Fukuoka High Public Prosecutor's Office to take supervisory responsibility for the case, a prosecution source said.
Maeda, who led a criminal investigation into a postal discount system abuse case involving the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, was indicted last week for tampering with data on a floppy disk seized during the probe.