12-Year sentence sought for ex-MUFG Bank worker over thefts
Japanese prosecutors on Thursday sought a 12-year prison sentence for Yukari Yamazaki, a former MUFG Bank employee charged with stealing cash and gold from customers' safe deposit boxes.
The defence side claimed that a five-year prison term is enough for Yamazaki, 47, who has pleaded guilty to the charges.
The ruling will be handed down on Oct. 6.
Prosecutors pointed out that Yamazaki has caused some 1.4 billion yen in financial damage to 70 customers since 2020. She committed the crime to make up for losses in foreign exchange margin trading and horse race betting, they said.
She tried to avoid detection by stealing outside business hours and turning off her personal computer so that the record of the opening and closing of safe deposit boxes would not remain, prosecutors said. Her act betrayed the trust of employees and customers, they said.
The defence side said that Yamazaki was mentally unstable at the time and that the crime was unplanned and not vicious, adding that she has a low possibility of doing the same thing again and that her rehabilitation is expected.
Yamazaki apologised and said, "I want to atone for my crime and return to society as soon as possible to repay as much as possible."
She has been indicted on charges of stealing 29 gold ingots worth about 333 million yen, about 61 million yen in cash, and other items from six customers' safe deposit boxes between March 2023 and October 2024, when she worked at the bank's Nerima and Tamagawa branches in Tokyo.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
