Japan's second-highest ranking prosecutor indicated Friday that he is ready to step down over allegations that he used public funds to take his mistress on business trips.
Mamoru Norisada, 60, chief prosecutor at the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office, has told Prosecutor General Keisuke Kitajima that he will leave the question of his resignation up to Kitajima, according to Justice Ministry officials.
Officials at the ministry and the prosecutor's office consider Norisada's move a de facto offer to resign. Norisada had been tipped as a strong candidate for the next prosecutor general, the top post in the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office.