The Tokyo District Court sentenced a former chief of the Social Insurance Agency to a suspended 2 1/2-year prison term Thursday for accepting bribes from the nation's main dental lobby while serving on a government advisory panel.
Takeshi Shimomura, 74, was also ordered to pay into state coffers 6.29 million yen -- the total amount of bribes he accepted from the Japan Dental Association -- as prosecutors had demanded. His prison term was suspended for five years.
Shimomura has pleaded guilty to the charge.