Prosecutors demanded a four-year prison term Wednesday for former Kochi Vice Gov. Takashi Yamamoto for allegedly lending 1 billion yen in public funds to an apparel manufacturers' association, knowing the money would not be repaid.
The prosecutors also sought a prison term of three years for Ryozo Kawamura, 62, who headed the prefectural government's commerce, industry and labor department, and for Koichi Tsuzuki, 58, chief of the prefectural commerce and industry policy section.
Yamamoto, 72, stands accused of breach of trust for providing the loans in 1996 to Mode Avance -- an association of five clothing makers in Nankoku, Kochi Prefecture -- knowing there was little prospect of recovering the money.
Yamamoto, who was vice governor from 1992 to 1998, conspired while in office with Shigeru Yasuhara, head of Mode Avance, to provide operating funds to the association in the form of loans, prosecutors said.