A Hyogo Prefectural Assembly member from Nippon Ishin no Kai has offered to leave the party for his questionable act over data on a probe by an assembly panel into alleged harassment by Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito, the member said Sunday.
At a news conference in Kobe, the assembly member, Makoto Masuyama, apologized for providing Takashi Tachibana, head of political group NHK Party, with undisclosed audio data of the special investigation committee and a document containing unconfirmed information.
On whether to resign as a member of the assembly, Masuyama said he will listen to opinions of voters.
"I apologize for leaking the audio data, which amounted to a violation of related rules," he said.
The audio data and the document contain information supporting the position of Saito, who has been under fire for suspected harassment. Masuyama said he provided the infoemation to Tachibana because he has an ability to communicate effectively, enabling people in the prefecture to know the content, while noting that he had no intention to defend the Hyogo governor.
The news conference was also attended by two other Hyogo assembly members from Nippon Ishin: Minoru Kishiguchi and Takahiro Shirai.
Kishiguchi was involved in supplying the document to Tachibana, while Shirai provided the NHK Party head with unconfirmed information over the phone. The two also apologized.
Kishiguchi said that he read the document on the day it was provided to Tachibana. Kishiguchi added that he is unsure about the authenticity of most of the information included in the document.
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