Prosecutors demanded a six-year prison term Wednesday for former Labor Minister Toshio Yamaguchi, who is accused of breach of trust and other charges in connection with illicit lending by two failed Tokyo-based credit unions.

During the day's session at the Tokyo District Court, prosecutors accused Yamaguchi, 59, of abusing his status as a Diet member to pursue his personal interests.

After a final rebuttal from Yamaguchi's lawyers in October, the court is expected to hand down a ruling next spring.

Yamaguchi is accused of breach of trust, embezzlement, fraud and perjury in connection with the financial scandal involving the collapsed Tokyo Kyowa and Anzen credit unions.

Since his first trial in April 1996, Yamaguchi has pleaded not guilty to the charges, laying the blame on his relatives who were also implicated in the case.

Yamaguchi is being tried for breach of trust for allegedly conspiring with his relatives and executives of the two failed Tokyo credit unions in 1994 to receive some 2.7 billion yen in loans, which were not backed by sufficient collateral, for a golf course developed by his sister. The loans soon turned irrecoverable and caused massive losses to the credit unions.

The charge of embezzlement involves establishing without permission in 1992 the right of pledge to a deposit account certificate owned by a foundation with which he was associated and similarly using land owned by another foundation as collateral for one of the loans a year later.

Yamaguchi is also accused of swindling about 170 million yen from a director of the Kumamoto Institute of Technology in 1992 by telling him that plans to build a university in the United States were proceeding even though they were at a standstill.

In addition, he allegedly gave false testimony to a House of Representatives Budget Committee hearing on the scandal in June 1995.

A dozen defendants -- including Yamaguchi's sister and brother and Harunori Takahashi, former director of Tokyo Kyowa Credit Association, were charged in the scandals. Eight have been found guilty so far.