Xi Zheng, a defendant in the IR bribery case in which Tsukasa Akimoto, member of the House of Representatives, has also been charged, was sentenced by the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday for his role as a former corporate officer of Chinese corporation 500.com’s Japanese entity.
Judge Toshihiko Niwa sentenced Xi to two years in prison with a suspended sentence of three years, as reported by the Nikkei.
All four people charged with bribery were found guilty in initial trials with Xi the last to be sentenced. Akimoto and others alleged to have received the bribes are in the pretrial process to narrow down the issues and evidence. No date has yet been set for the first trial.
According to judgment, Zheng colluded with former advisors between September 2017 and February 2018 to offer a bribe equivalent to approximately JPY7.6 million (US$72,000) in return for Akimoto securing an advantage for 500.com’s bid to develop an IR.
Zheng has also been found guilty of violating the Foreign Exchange Law, by bringing JPY15 million (US$143,000) in cash to Japan without making the relevant declarations.
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