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Prosecutors and police searched a premises linked to merchu Inc. — a publicity agency in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture — on Friday on suspicion of receiving compensation from Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito’s camp in return for supporting his campaign in the Nov. 17 Hyogo gubernatorial election, in which he was reelected.
The Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office and the Hyogo prefectural police are examining materials seized from the premises on suspicion of violating the Public Offices Election Law.
According to investigative sources, the authorities requested merchu’s representative to voluntarily submit relevant materials. However, she was not fully cooperative, leading them to step up the investigation as they needed evidence for determining whether to build a case. Saito’s camp is said to have complied with the request.
The election law prohibits payment to individuals or companies that have independently planned and proposed internet election campaigns, as well as the receipt of such compensation. A lawyer and a university professor filed a complaint against Saito and the merchu representative in December.
The complaint stated that Saito’s camp paid merchu ¥715,000 on Nov. 4, after the official announcement of the governor’s election bid, as compensation for planning and executing overall publicity — including online campaigning — with the aim of getting Saito reelected.
On Nov. 20, after the votes were cast and counted, the representative posted on note social media platform that Saito’s camp “entrusted me with overall publicity.”
Regarding the social media strategy, she also wrote, “As the supervisor, I took responsibility for formulating operation strategies and content planning.”
Saito’s side has denied any illegality, saying, “There is no truth to the fact that we asked [her] to handle all public relations.”
Neither the firm nor the representative have responded to interview requests.
The authorities will analyze the messages on mobile phones seized during the search. Even so, the hurdle for building a criminal case appears to be high.
