The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld the seven-year prison sentence imposed by a lower court on Hiroyasu Watanabe, former president of the now-defunct Tokyo Sagawa Kyubin Co., for aggravated breach of trust that caused the trucking company to suffer huge losses.
Watanabe, 66, was found guilty by the Tokyo District Court in March 1996 of causing the firm about 40.2 billion yen in losses through illicit dealings with an underworld organization and a number of influential politicians.
According to Thursday's ruling, Watanabe provided loans and loan guarantees worth 15.7 billion yen from his company to two firms owned by Susumu Ishii, the late leader of the Inagawa-kai crime syndicate, in 1990, without securing collateral.