High court gives ex-fund manager Murakami suspended prison term

TOKYO, Feb. 3 Kyodo -
The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday sentenced former investment fund manager
Yoshiaki Murakami to two years in prison, suspended for three years,
overturning a lower court ruling that had given him an unsuspended prison term
for insider trading connected to shares of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. in
2004.
The high court upheld the Tokyo District Court's order in July 2007 for
Murakami, 49, to pay a fine of 3 million yen and a record 1.15 billion yen
surcharge, imposed along with the unsuspended prison term.
The high court ruled that Murakami should receive a suspended sentence because
he had not sought to gain profits using information supplied by Internet and
financial services company Livedoor Co. The court also took into account the
fact that Murakami is no longer involved in stock trading.
Murakami -- a former trade ministry official who became a high-profile
shareholder activist and founder of the Murakami Fund -- appealed to the
Supreme Court, saying he cannot accept the ruling.
Murakami had pleaded not guilty to charges that he made hefty profits by
acquiring and then selling Nippon Broadcasting System shares after Livedoor
told him confidentially on Nov. 8, 2004, that the company was planning to
purchase a large block of the radio broadcaster's shares.
Prosecutors argued that Murakami encouraged Livedoor to acquire a large number
of Nippon Broadcasting System shares and that he obtained insider information
about the planned stock transactions.
The defense team countered that when Murakami met Livedoor founder Takafumi
Horie, 36, and other Livedoor officials in November 2004, Livedoor lacked funds
to buy a large number of shares in the radio company so it was not realistic to
consider such a transaction.
Livedoor had not reached a definite decision that could have affected
Murakami's course of action so he had not received any insider information, his
counsel argued.
Separately, the high court lowered a fine on MAC Asset Management Inc., a core
entity of the Murakami Fund, to 200 million yen from 300 million yen imposed by
the district court.
The Murakami Fund, now virtually defunct, attracted market attention after
suddenly emerging as a large stakeholder in major Japanese companies including
Hanshin Electric Railway Co. and department store operator Matsuzakaya Co., and
for urging executives to raise corporate value for the sake of shareholders.
==Kyodo
2009-02-03 22:14:10