Prosecutors demanded a two-year prison sentence Thursday for former Cabinet member Jitsuo Inagaki, who is charged with illegally selling 24 million yen worth of investment products.
Inagaki, 77, and four business partners solicited the money from 27 investors, mainly elderly people, between May and December 2002 by promising high returns and by guaranteeing the principal, which is against the deposit regulation law, the prosecutors told the Tokyo District Court.
The prosecutors also sought prison terms of 18 months to two years for three former executives of Tokyo-based Capital Invest Japan, of which Inagaki was president.
Inagaki and two of the former executives, Satomi Seki and Kei Nishino, have pleaded guilty. Former executive Isao Ochi, 67, however, has pleaded not guilty, claiming he only abetted the illegal act.
Inagaki, from Aichi Prefecture, was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1977 from the Liberal Democratic Party and served as state minister for Hokkaido and Okinawa development from 1996 to 1997.
He lost his Diet seat in the June 2000 general election and became the company's president in January 2002.