The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by House of Representatives lawmaker Muneo Suzuki against the two-year prison term and ¥11 million fine he received in 2004 for accepting bribes from two Hokkaido-based companies.
Suzuki was convicted of accepting ¥6 million in bribes from construction company Shimada Kensetsu between 1997 and 1998 while he was head of the Hokkaido Development Agency, and ¥5 million in 1998 from timber firm Yamarin when he was deputy chief Cabinet secretary.
Presiding Judge Osamu Ikeda upheld the 2004 district court ruling, saying the testimony adopted by the lower court was valid and consistently backed up by other circumstantial evidence, including handwritten memos and data left in computers.