The arrogance and self-complacence of public prosecutors have been exposed with the acquittal of a high-ranking former welfare ministry official who had been indicted on a charge of forgery, and the subsequent arrest and indictment of two prosecutors accused of hiding evidence of data tampering. The case involved an alleged attempt to abuse the postage discount system for the disabled.

The welfare official, Atsuko Muraki, had been arrested in 2009. On Sept. 10 of this year, the Osaka District Court acquitted her after rejecting crucial evidence submitted by the prosecution. The ruling has not been appealed.

The two prosecutors later arrested and indicted are Hiromichi Otsubo, former chief of the special investigation squad at the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, and his deputy, Motoaki Saga. Earlier their subordinate prosecutor, Tsunehiko Maeda, had been arrested and indicted on a charge of tampering with data on a floppy disk that prosecutors confiscated in the case against Muraki.