Ex-Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Official Guilty of Insider Trading

   Tokyo, July 4 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court on Friday sentenced a former employee of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank to two years in prison, suspended for four years, for engaging in insider stock trading through the abuse of tender offer information before disclosure.
   In his trial presided by judge Reiko Kaihatsu, Hajime Katayama, 55, former chief of the Japanese trust bank's second stock transfer agency business department, was also fined 2 million yen and ordered to pay 61.4 million yen in additional penalty for his violation of the financial instruments and exchange law.
   Public prosecutors had demanded a two-year prison sentence, a fine of 2 million yen and a 61.4-million-yen additional penalty.
   The defendant "undermined financial market fairness and soundness by taking advantage of his position for his own benefits," the judge said. "There is no room for leniency in his motive of saving 20 million yen for his post-retirement life," the judge concluded.
   The judge refused the defense side's request for a reduction in the additional penalty, saying, "This cannot be treated as an exceptional case, because there are no particular circumstances that need to be taken into consideration."

(2025/07/04-18:09)