A former head of the Sapporo Regional Taxation Bureau was sentenced Thursday to 14 months in prison for evading some 250 million yen in income tax.

Tsunekichi Hamada, 64, was also ordered by the Tokyo District Court to pay a 55 million yen fine. Although he had pleaded guilty to the charge, Hamada filed an appeal with the Tokyo High Court.

He evaded the income tax by hiding some 740 million yen in taxable income from 1997 to 2000 from his work as a tax accountant and adviser that he pursued following his retirement as tax administrator in 1996, according to the court.

Prosecutors had demanded 30 months in prison and an 80 million yen fine.

"The accused, out of his own financial greed, committed crimes that contradict the severe ethical standard required of his earlier key position in tax administration," presiding Judge Yoshinobu Iida said. "His crimes betrayed the public's trust in tax administration and seriously damaged the people's willingness to pay taxes."

Hamada was accused of failing to declare most of the commission he collected for advising more than 100 companies on how to reduce their tax bills, and of padding office expenses.

He served as a tax consultant to some 200 companies and had more than 200 million yen in annual income.

Hamada is believed to have used some of the undeclared income to purchase a new residence in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, in October 1999, placing the rest of the money into savings accounts.

During the trial, Hamada apologized and claimed he had thought that he would someday correct his income reports.

Hamada joined the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau in 1956 after graduating from a high school in Chiba Prefecture. After serving as a secretary to the National Tax Agency chief, he became chief personnel inspector at the agency.

Hamada retired from the National Tax Agency in 1996, the year after he assumed the post at the Sapporo tax office.

He opened a Tokyo accounting office after retiring, but closed it following his arrest in January.

The talent agency Rising Production Co., now called Freegate Promotion Co., which manages Namie Amuro and other popular singers, was one of his clients.

The founder of Rising Production, Tetsuo Taira, is on trial on a charge of evading about 1.18 billion yen in corporate taxes in the three business years to August 1999.

Hamada's case came to light in the process of the prosecutors' investigation into the Rising Production case.