OSAKA -- Real-estate broker Heo Young Joong repeated his not guilty plea Tuesday before the Osaka High Court in the first hearing of his appeal against a district court ruling last year on a fraud case involving collapsed trading house Itoman Corp.
Heo, 55, an Osaka-based resident of South Korea, was a key figure in the firm's collapse. He denies committing aggravated breach of trust by conspiring with Yoshihiko Kawamura, 77, a former president of Itoman, and Suemitsu Ito, 57, a former managing director of the firm, to cause Itoman to incur about 36 billion yen in losses in 1990.
On March 29, 2001, the Osaka District Court sentenced Heo to 7 1/2 years in prison and a fine of 500 million yen, making it one of Japan's largest of business fraud cases since the war.