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Prison term to be raised to 10 years for securities law offenders+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Feb. 21_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: TO BE LED) The government plans to raise the maximum prison term for market manipulation and accounting fraud in violation of the Securities and Exchange Law to 10 years from the current five, government sources said Tuesday. Seeking stricter penalties following alleged law violations by Livedoor Co., the government also plans to raise maximum fines for such offenders to 10 million yen from 5 million yen, the sources said. The maximum prison sentence for insider stock trading will be also raised to five years from three years in order to increase transparency and fairness in the stock market, they said. The proposals come as the Financial Services Agency is planning to submit to the Diet a new investment service bill as an amendment to the securities law. Last week prosecutors indicted former Livedoor President Takafumi Horie and three other former top executives, charging that the Internet and financial services group had conducted accounting fraud and spread false information in the stock market over a takeover deal in a bid to boost a subsidiary's share price. |