A former aide to arrested Lower House member Muneo Suzuki was handed a suspended 16-month prison term Monday for interfering in the bidding for a state-funded project on Kunashiri Island and conspiring with Suzuki to hide 100 million yen in donations.
The Tokyo District Court sentenced 55-year-old Akira Miyano, who served as a state-paid secretary to Suzuki, to 16 months in prison, suspended for three years. Prosecutors had demanded an 18-month prison term, while Miyano had pleaded not guilty.
The court ruled that Miyano conspired with Suzuki to falsify a political funding report for 1998 -- in violation of the Political Funds Control Law -- by omitting 100 million yen in donations to Suzuki, then a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.