Two Hyogo Prefectural Assembly members from the Nippon Ishin no Kai resigned Thursday from a special committee investigating alleged harassment by Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito.
Minoru Kishiguchi and Makoto Masuyama made the move following their questionable acts of providing information related to the allegations to Takashi Tachibana, the leader of the controversial Party to Protect the People from NHK.
Kishiguchi served as deputy leader of the committee.
The two submitted their resignations Thursday, which were accepted by the head of the assembly within the day.
Tachibana had repeatedly made defamatory comments against Hideaki Takeuchi, a former member of the assembly and the committee, who died in January in an apparent suicide.
Tachibana said he received information on Takeuchi from Kishiguchi, who on Wednesday admitted his involvement in the act.
Also on Wednesday, Masuyama said on a YouTube program that he had given Tachibana an audio recording of a closed-door session of the special committee.
The committee is compiling a report on the outcome of its probes into Saito, with the aim of releasing it in early March.
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