Former Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblyman Tai Yamazaki was given a suspended 30-month prison term and fined 2.5 million yen Thursday for conspiring with a broker who overcharged for mediating low-interest loans for small businesses.
The Tokyo District Court found Yamazaki, 39, guilty of accepting a total of some 4.2 million yen from the broker, management consultant Yoshihiko Noutomi, 73, as a reward for using his influence as an assembly member to arrange the loans.
Yamazaki later used the money, which amounted to 2 percent of the loans extended, to cover his dining and entertainment expenses, according to the court.