OSAKA -- Shinya Takeuchi, a former official of Yuasa Trading Co., was sentenced Monday to a seven-year prison term for swindling the Tokyo-based trading house out of about 5.72 billion yen through fictitious deals.
Judge Masaaki Yoneyama of the Osaka District Court also sentenced Yasuaki Morimoto, president of Osaka-based machinery manufacturer Technical System Co., to five years in prison and a third defendant, Tsuyoshi Hidaka, who was in charge of accounting at the firm, to three years in prison.
Prosecutors had demanded 11 years in prison for Takeuchi, eight years for Morimoto and six years for Hidaka.
Takeuchi, a former section chief at Yuasa Trading's Kansai branch, conspired with the other two defendants to swindle the money by forging contracts under Yuasa's name on 20 occasions between November 1998 and September 1999.
All three pleaded guilty to the charges.
Yuasa Trading is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.