Tokyo, July 29 (Jiji Press)--Japanese judicial and prosecutorial authorities on Wednesday dismissed 48-year-old prosecutor Masahito Nishida for having an inappropriate relationship with a woman he had investigated. Nishida began the inappropriate relationship with the woman around 2024, after an investigation of her ended, according to the authorities. He was a member of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad at the time. Before a summary order against the woman was finalized, Nishida received electronic money worth 3,000 yen from her and engaged in sexual acts with her at a hotel for which his lodging fee was paid from public funds in a different case. Nishida admitted to the relationship in an internal investigation, saying that he thought the woman had feelings for him and that he let his guard down after the investigation into her ended. "The matter has tremendously shaken the public's trust in the fairness of prosecutors' exercise of their authority and is extremely regrettable," Hiroshi Ichikawa, deputy chief of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, said in a press conference Wednesday. "We deeply apologize to the public." On top of the disciplinary dismissal of Nishida, the authorities gave a strong warning to Fuminori Ito, chief prosecutor of the Matsuyama District Public Prosecutors Office, who was then head of the Tokyo office's special squad, and reprimanded Shintaro Sekiguchi, who was deputy chief of the special squad at the time and is now its chief. Nishida was a member of the special investigation squad for four and a half years until December 2025 and led its investigations into the high-profile "slush funds" scandal involving fundraising party revenues at factions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Last October, a male prosecutor at the Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office was punished with a 10-month suspension from duties for being entertained by a witness he questioned in the past. He resigned soon after the penalty was given. In December that year, a male prosecutor at the Saitama District Public Prosecutors Office was dismissed for leaking to a woman he was dating information about the criminal record of another person. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]