The Tokyo District Court will focus on six issues in its trial of former Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie over alleged securities law violations, and have ex-Livedoor Chief Financial Officer Ryoji Miyauchi testify as a key witness from Sept. 15, judicial sources said Wednesday.
The six key issues to be reviewed in the trial, which starts Monday, include whether Horie was aware of any wrongdoing and whether there was a conspiracy involving him and four other former Livedoor executives indicted in the Internet services group's financial data falsification case.
Prosecutors and the defense team for Horie will put a combined 18 people on the witness stand. Miyauchi, 39, one of the four defendants, will take the stand at Horie's fifth trial session, on Sept. 15. He is scheduled to testify for the prosecution through the ninth session, slated for Sept. 29.
Former Livedoor Representative Director Fumito Kumagai, 28, also among the four, will testify at the 17th session, on Oct. 17.
Horie's trial is expected to have 26 sessions up to Nov. 28.
The schedule was agreed upon during the 10th and last pretrial meeting Wednesday involving court officials, prosecutors and Horie's lawyers, the sources said.
Horie, 33, and the four other ex-Livedoor executives have been charged with violating the Securities and Exchange Law by conspiring to fabricate financial data for Livedoor's business year to Sept. 30, 2004, or for Livedoor Marking Co.'s nine-month accounting period to the same date.
Horie has denied committing any breach of the law, while the other four have basically pleaded guilty to the charges at a session held separately from Horie's.