The Tokyo District Court handed former Kimura Construction Co. President Moriyoshi Kimura a suspended three-year prison term Friday for window-dressing his company's accounts and knowingly selling inadequately earthquake-resistant condos designed by disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha.
Kimura, 75, a key figure in the building safety scandal centered on Aneha, had pleaded guilty of violating the construction industry law for cooking his firm's books but had denied involvement in the fraud.
Friday's sentence, which was suspended for five years, stated that Aneha bore the principal responsibility for the building safety scandal in which he consciously faked the blueprints on construction projects.