Obituaries

Japan’s ex-head of prosecutors squad dies

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Katsuhiko Kumazaki, former head of the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office

Jiji Press

18:20 JST, May 27, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Katsuhiko Kumazaki, former head of the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, died of heart failure May 13. He was 80.

Kumazaki, also former commissioner of the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, became a prosecutor in 1972 and later filled key posts, including chief of the special investigation unit.

Kumazaki was with the Tokyo special investigative squad for 12 years.

As deputy head of the squad, Kumazaki elicited a confession from the late Shin Kanemaru, former vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, about his tax evasion using undeclared discount bank debentures.

Following his retirement as prosecutor in 2004, Kumazaki continued his career as a lawyer.

From January 2014 to November 2017, Kumazaki served as NPB commissioner, working to exclude the influence of antisocial groups from the Japanese baseball world and leading probes into baseball gambling by Yomiuri Giants baseball players.