Ex-Japan Lawmaker Convicted For Illegally Brokering Loans

A former lawmaker of Komeito, the junior party in Japan's ruling coalition, was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison, suspended for three years, for illegally mediating public loans to companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Mainichi Japan reported.

Photo Insert: According to the ruling, Kiyohiko Toyama brokered loans 111 times to companies, including by introducing them to Japan Finance officials.

The Tokyo District Court found Kiyohiko Toyama, who stepped down as a House of Representatives member in February last year after an unrelated scandal, guilty of receiving payments in return for helping secure loans from Japan Finance Corp. between March 2020 and June 2021, even though he was not licensed to do so.

A fine of 1 million yen ($8,100) was imposed, Kyodo News also reported.

Presiding Judge Toshihiko Niwa said the 3.7 billion yen total in loan contracts signed showed Toyama repeatedly engaged in illegal broking and collected commissions not only while he was a Diet member but also after his resignation.

He "cannot escape blame as he was in a position where high ethical standards are required," the judge said. But the prison term was suspended as he reflected on his act and returned the gratuities he had received, according to the court.

According to the ruling, Toyama brokered loans 111 times to companies, including by introducing them to Japan Finance officials. He colluded with Atsushi Maki, 74, an executive of an environmental firm in some of the cases.

Toyama served as a senior vice minister at the Finance Ministry, which manages the government-backed lender, for one year to September 2020.

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