5 years sought for ex-Nova president charged with embezzling+

OSAKA, July 3 Kyodo -
Prosecutors demanded five years in prison Friday for Nozomu Sahashi, former
president of English conversation school operator Nova Corp., on a charge of
embezzling 320 million yen in employment benefit funds shortly before the
company went bankrupt in 2007.

''I deeply apologize. Everything falls under my responsibility,'' Sahashi, 57,
told a trial hearing at the Osaka District Court.
The court plans to hand down a ruling Aug. 26.
He has admitted to diverting the money to refund tuition fees to those who
canceled their contracts for language lessons due to financial restraints.
His defense counsel pleaded not guilty, saying the defendant had no intention
to use the money to unlawfully gain profits.
According to the indictment, Sahashi diverted about 320 million yen from an
employment benefits fund on July 20, 2007, transferring the money to the bank
account of an affiliate company.
All the misappropriated money was used for reimbursement.
Nova went bust in October 2007, leaving thousands of employees jobless and its
students without refunds.
Nagoya-based G.communication Co. took over some of Nova's operations in
November that year.
Sahashi launched English conversation classes in Osaka in 1981 and set up Nova
in 1990.
His venture once grew into Japan's largest chain of English schools, with some
480,000 people taking its language lessons at its peak, before going bankrupt.
==Kyodo