An 49-year old unemployed man from Osaka, who was accused of fraud involving a group based in Cambodia, was sentenced at the Saga District Court to five years imprisonment on July 25.
Hiroki Ito was charged with fraud for having offered false foreign exchange deals to four men and women in and outside the prefecture based in Cambodia between April and May last year, defrauding them out of a total of around 40 million yen in cash.
In previous trials, the prosecution had sought six years in prison, while the defense had pleaded not guilty on the grounds that the defendant wasn’t aware of any attempt to defraud them of money.
In his ruling on July 25, the judge noted that the defendant traveled to Cambodia as an interpreter for a stock trading company and wasn’t clearly informed in advance that he would be involved in a fraud. On the other hand, it’s difficult to believe that he didn’t have suspicious, given the office conditions and the promise of high salary. It’s sufficient to find that there was an intent to defraud.
The judge then sentenced the defendant to five years in prison on the grounds that the amount of damage was high and the defendant played an integral role in committing the fraud, placing him in a serious category of similar cases.
