The Tokyo District Court sentenced the former president of a major consultancy to a year in prison, suspended for two years, for evading corporate taxes but waived a breach of trust charge filed against him over a state-funded project to dispose of chemical weapons that Japan left in China after World War II.
Shota Morita, 68, former president of Pacific Consultants International, evaded some ¥80 million in corporate taxes over two years through September 2004 to squeeze out money used in securing orders for official development assistance projects, the ruling said.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of two years and six months, adding the charge of breach of trust, saying he made PCI pay around ¥120 million after forcing a failing company to take part in the project at the request of a holding company president, Tamio Araki, 73, between 2004 and 2005.
The court rejected the claim, saying the management decision was reasonable.
Araki's trial, also on breach of trust, is pending, and six others have been found guilty over a series of scams involving PCI and state-funded projects. PCI as a company has already been fined for tax evasion and bribery.
The Tokyo-based company is one of the largest consultancies in terms of order receipts connected to the Japanese government's official development assistance projects overseas.