Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. said Tuesday it punished 527 people, including sales staff and their supervisors, last month for illegally padding the number of new contracts they sold to meet internal sales goals.
The nonlife insurer said it found that 280 sales representatives had asked family members and friends to sign contracts but actually paid the insurance premiums themselves from February 2002 to August 2005.
Shouldering premium payments is banned under the Insurance Business Law, but the insurer did not make either the misdeeds or the punishments public at the time.