SINGAPORE (Kyodo) A Singapore high court reduced the jail sentence Monday of Noriyuki Yamazaki, a naphtha trader who masterminded a fraud that led to a S$81 million (US$57.9 million) loss at Mitsui Oil (Asia) Pte. Ltd.

Yamazaki's sentence was cut to two years from five years by the appeal court.

Now 38, Yamazaki was a trading manager at Mitsui Oil (Asia), the Singapore subsidiary of Japanese trading house Mitsui Oil & Co., when he committed the offence in 2006.