A former Foreign Ministry official and his subordinate received suspended prison terms Tuesday for defrauding the government of 21.5 million yen by padding bills for limousine rentals in connection with the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa in 2000.
Their coconspirators in the limo firm also received suspended sentences.
The Tokyo District Court found Hiromu Kobayashi, 46, former assistant director in the office of the deputy director general for general affairs at the Economic Affairs Bureau, and his subordinate, Tsutomu Okuma, 39, guilty of swindling the public funds in cooperation with officials of Tokyo-based Hinomaru Limousine. Kobayashi's 30-month sentence was suspended for five years, and Okuma's 16-month term for four years.