The Tokyo High Court on Friday suspended the prison term handed down by a lower court to a former certified accountant for his involvement in accounting fraud by Internet firm Livedoor Co.
The high court gave Taishin Hisano, 43, a suspended 12-month term. Hisano, who was charged with authorizing false financial statements by Livedoor despite knowing of the company's illicit profit-padding, admitted to the facts presented in the indictment and sought a suspended sentence during the trial at the high court.
Hisano's defense team argued that the accounting fraud was minor compared with other fraud cases and that Hisano "only played a subordinate role."
On March 23, 2007, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Hisano to 10 months in prison for conspiring with Livedoor founder Takafumi Horie and company executive Ryoji Miyauchi to fabricate ¥5.3 billion in revenues in reporting Livedoor's consolidated earnings for the year through September 2004.