TOKYO - A former member of an elite investigative unit of Tokyo prosecutors has become the target of a probe for allegedly having an improper relationship with a woman he had questioned in connection with a case, sources familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.
The 48-year-old prosecutor, who was until last year part of a team that investigates corruption among politicians and financial irregularities at corporations, had led a probe into the recent slush fund scandal involving the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
While he was a member of the team at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, he questioned the woman as part of a case, and later began meeting her privately and the two developed a close relationship, according to the sources.
The statement she made during the investigation was taken up at trial, and she could have appeared as a witness. The two had begun having a relationship by the time of the trial, according to the sources.
The prosecutor had also spent a night with the woman in a hotel room after the space was used to question people in a separate case, the sources said.
The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office is investigating the prosecutor's alleged relationship with the woman and will consider punishing him after interviewing the people concerned.
The investigation comes amid a spate of improprieties involving prosecutors in the nation. A prosecutor in Chiba Prefecture resigned after receiving a 10-month suspension in October for accepting lavish entertainment and travel paid for by a person he had previously questioned.
In December, a prosecutor in Saitama Prefecture was fired for leaking investigation-related information to a woman he was dating.
