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Jun. 12, 2012 - Updated 08:24 UTC (17:24 JST) | NHK World
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cH_IkxnPnO8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A top gangster has been released after paying the second-highest bail ever set in Japan.
Kiyoshi Takayama is the number 2 man at the country's biggest crime syndicate,
Yamaguchi-gumi, and also heads a Nagoya-based organized crime group, Kodokai.
He has been indicted on charges of extorting about 500,000 dollars from a public works
contractor in Kyoto between 2004 and 2006. Takayama pleaded not guilty in the first
hearing of his trial on June 6th.
The 64-year-old suspect was allowed to leave the Kyoto detention house last month due
to illness, and has since been hospitalized.
On Tuesday, the Kyoto District Court accepted his request for release and set bail of 1.5
billion yen, or about 18.8 million dollars.
The payment was made and Takayama was freed.
The highest bail in Japan is the 2-billion yen set in 2004 for a former head of a meat-packing
company indicted for abusing a state beef-buyback program. The program was set up amid
concerns over mad cow disease.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cH_IkxnPnO8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A top gangster has been released after paying the second-highest bail ever set in Japan.
Kiyoshi Takayama is the number 2 man at the country's biggest crime syndicate,
Yamaguchi-gumi, and also heads a Nagoya-based organized crime group, Kodokai.
He has been indicted on charges of extorting about 500,000 dollars from a public works
contractor in Kyoto between 2004 and 2006. Takayama pleaded not guilty in the first
hearing of his trial on June 6th.
The 64-year-old suspect was allowed to leave the Kyoto detention house last month due
to illness, and has since been hospitalized.
On Tuesday, the Kyoto District Court accepted his request for release and set bail of 1.5
billion yen, or about 18.8 million dollars.
The payment was made and Takayama was freed.
The highest bail in Japan is the 2-billion yen set in 2004 for a former head of a meat-packing
company indicted for abusing a state beef-buyback program. The program was set up amid
concerns over mad cow disease.
