The Tokyo District Court sentenced former Kimura Construction Co. executive Akira Shinozuka to a suspended one-year prison term Wednesday for window-dressing the firm's 2004 financial statements.

The head of the Tokyo branch of the now-defunct contractor was found guilty of falsifying the balance sheet to show the builder had a net worth of 400 million yen while its liabilities actually exceeded its assets by 1.3 billion yen. Financial soundness is a key requirement for renewing a contractor's business license.

Shinozuka is the second key figure linked to the shoddy building fiasco to receive a verdict. Togo Fujita, former president of eHomes Inc., was handed a suspended 18-month prison term in October for falsifying documents to inflate the value of his firm to get licensed as a building inspector.