A former Seibu Railway Co. managing director was sentenced to a suspended 18-month prison term Tuesday for providing as much as 187 million yen in benefits to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist and his accomplices in 2001 so they wouldn't disrupt a shareholders' meeting.
Seiichi Ikura, 65, was convicted by the Tokyo District Court of selling company-owned land to the racketeers at prices well below market value in violation of the Commercial Code.
Nine other employees and former employees of the private railway were also sentenced to suspended prison terms ranging from eight to 18 months.
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