The Kagoshima District Public Prosecutors' Office in southwestern Japan on Friday indicted a former senior official of the Kagoshima Prefectural Police Department for allegedly breaching confidentiality by leaking an internal document containing information about a police scandal.
Takashi Honda, a 60-year-old former head of the police department's community safety division, was arrested late last month on suspicion of sending the internal document, which he obtained while in office, to a writer in Sapporo in late March after his retirement.
During a court procedure on June 5, Honda claimed that he could not overlook an attempt by the police department's head, Akiteru Nogawa, to cover up a criminal act committed by an official of the police department.
At a regular news conference on Friday, Nogawa reiterated his denial of the allegation, saying, "I never ordered a cover-up."
In addition to the Honda case, the Kagoshima police department has been hit by a series of scandals this year, including three cases in which police officers have been arrested. The National Police Agency is considering sending an inspector to the department as early as next week.