Ex-MUFG Bank Employee Reveals 1.7-B.-Yen Safe Deposit Thefts

   Tokyo, Aug. 25 (Jiji Press)--A former MUFG Bank employee said during a court hearing on Monday that she stole items worth 1.7 billion to 1.8 billion yen, including cash and gold, from around 100 people, in a high-profile safe deposit theft case.
   Yukari Yamazaki was indicted for allegedly stealing a total of 29 gold ingots worth about 333 million yen, about 61 million yen in cash, and 50 travel vouchers worth 250,000 yen from six customers' safe deposit boxes between March 2023 and October 2024, when she worked at the bank's Nerima and Tamagawa branches in Tokyo.
   In Tokyo District Court on Monday, Yamazaki said that she committed the thefts to make up for losses she had suffered from foreign exchange margin trading and horse race betting.
   "I'm really sorry for causing a grave case that causes distrust in the entire financial industry," the 46-year-old defendant said.
   After the prosecution pointed out that her foreign exchange margin trading losses had exceeded 500 million yen as of 2022, Yamazaki said that her thoughts had been paralyzed since her deficit reached tens of millions of yen.

(2025/08/25-18:10)