The Japanese Navy’s chief of staff quit on Friday after a raft of scandals including over people without adequate security clearances handling classified defence materials.

“I will resign from the chief of maritime staff job on July 19 and retire,” said Admiral Ryo Sakai, the most senior uniformed officer in the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF).

“As chief of the maritime staff, I am responsible for the training of personnel and the organisational management of the force, and I’m rightly held accountable for failing to fulfil my duties as the manager of specified secrets,” Sakai told reporters.

Chief government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi also said that “disciplinary action” had also been taken against more than 200 people.