Japan Eyes U.S. Penalties
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Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the Justice Ministry is reported to be considering tightening the country's Securities and Exchange Law following investigations into Livedoor Group. Livedoor may turn out to be the Japanese equivalent to Enron and WorldCom. The infamous collapse of the two giants of the dot-com boom led directly to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. According to Japanese news sources, Liberal Democratic Party politicians are calling for increased penalties. The rationale is that Japan has a reputation for lenient penalties compared to the US. Areas of the Act that would be affected centre on spreading false information to manipulate the market or falsify financial statements. 5 years is the maximum penalty. Bernie Ebbers, CEO of WorldCom in contrast was sentenced to 25 years for his part in the failure of WorldCom. Japanese companies listed in the US or with American shareholders already have to comply with the SOX Act. In recent months a number of SOX compliance tool vendors have opened up shop in Tokyo including SenSage and OpenPages.
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