A former Finance Ministry bank inspector was given a suspended prison term Thursday for receiving bribes worth more than 8 million yen from four major banks in exchange for providing tips on the ministry's bank inspection schedules.
Presiding Judge Manabu Yamazaki of the Tokyo District Court sentenced Koichi Miyagawa, former chief of the ministry's Financial Inspector's Office, to 2 1/2 years in prison, suspended for three years.
The court also ordered the 54-year-old former official to pay an 8.11 million yen fine, equal to the amount of bribes he accepted between March 1993 and June 1997. Prosecutors had demanded a three-year sentence and an order to repay the 8.11 million yen.