Prison

Japan court sentences former defense minister for bribery

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday sentenced former Japanese administrative vice defense minister Takemasa Moriya to two and a half years in prison for accepting bribes and committing perjury.

In April, Moriya pleaded guilty to accepting approximately $126,000 worth of illegal benefits from military contractor Yamada Corporation, and to giving false testimony to conceal the exchanges. He was also ordered to pay fines equaling the amount of the bribes, and was denied his request to have his sentence suspended. Motonobu Miyazaki, former managing director of Yamada, was also sentenced to two years' imprisonment for his involvement in the bribery.

Japan has been generally successful in fighting corruption, but financial scandal has rocked the national government before. In May 2007 Agriculture Minister Shinichi Yamazaki committed suicide after being called before a parliamentary committee to answer allegations of embezzling over $200,000 in state funds. In 2008, corruption monitoring group Transparency International ranked Japan 18th in the world - tied with the US - its index of countries enjoying perceptions of low corruption.

(Published by Jurist - November 6, 2008)