Shigeru Echigo, the former salesman from Deutsche Bank AG, had admitted to committing bribery in Tokyo. He claims he had done so upon instructions of his managers. He is the latest sample of the authorities pushing brokerages to be more cautious in its entertainment activities concerning possible clients.
During the trial held at the Tokyo District Court, Echigo had accepted the prosecutor's claim that he bribed a pension fund executive to have them purchase their firm's investment products. He also acceded to the assertion that he spent JPY900,000 or about USD8,800 in entertainment expenses between April and September 2012.
In his defense, Echigo claimed he did not act on his own. He also said that his activities were an institutional norm in the Japanese office of the German giant. Previously, Yutaka Tsurisawa, a former employee at Mitsui & Co was found guilty by the same court for accepting the bribes from Echigo. As an internal move, Deutsche Securities Inc had cut the pay of several of its officials in Japan after the firm was censured by government regulatory authorities last December.
He testified in court, "My actions as a salesman were part of systematic conduct based on the instructions and consent of my bosses at Deutsche Securities." He then submitted evidence to prove that his managers had encouraged the entertainment he conducted.
These bribery charges involve payment of meals as well as golf green fees for Tsurisawa. This is a violation of Japanese law, as the funds his office oversaw had included public funds. This made Tsurisawa a public servant and thus was considered as bribery once accepted. This case, as well as many others currently under investgation, would send a signal throughout the industry as to banks' and brokers' practices concerning public funds managed by private firms as to the need for propriety and judiciousness.
Should Echigo be convicted by the panel headed by Chief Judge Akiro Ando, he would face as much as three years in jail time or pay a fine of JPY2.5 million.
