81 NHK Employees Involved in Stock Trading During Office Hours

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

May 27–TOKYO — A third-party panel set up by Japan Broadcasting Corp., known as NHK, to investigate insider stock trading by its staff said Tuesday that 75 employees traded stocks during office hours over the past three years while another six employees falsely responded to its probe, bringing the total number to 81.

The 81 employees are not believed to have been involved in insider trading but the panel said they “absolutely lacked a sense of duty and professional awareness.” The panel, led by lawyer Hideaki Kubori, was established in February to investigate insider stock trading by three NHK employees, who were later dismissed in April. It checked NHK’s 13,200 employees, including contract staff, through questionnaires and hearings.

The three dismissed employees allegedly gained about 100,000 yen to 500,000 yen each last year through trading shares based on information exclusively obtained by NHK.

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Copyright (c) 2008, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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