TOKYO (TR) – A former Mitsubishi UFJ Bank employee this week admitted to stealing gold bars and cash from safe deposit boxes at two branches, reports Jiji Press (Aug. 25).
At the Tokyo District Court on Monday, 46-year-old Yukari Yamazaki said, “I caused a terrible incident that has brought distrust to the entire financial industry.”
According to the indictment, Yamazaki is alleged to have stolen a total of 29 gold bars (worth approximately 333 million yen), approximately 61 million yen in cash and 50 travel vouchers (total value of 250,000 yen) from six customers’ safe deposit boxes between March 2023 and October 2024 at the bank’s Nerima and Tamagawa branches.
In a previous hearing, the prosecution argued that Yamazaki, who was responsible for the safe deposit box, began stealing cash and gold bars by using spare keys to cover large losses incurred in foreign exchange margin trading. They claimed that she repeatedly converted the gold bars into cash at pawn shops.
After a customer filed a complaint, the bank launched an investigation at the end of October last year. Yamazaki was dismissed in November.
During the investigation conducted earlier this year, police revealed that the crimes committed by Yamazaki were committed over a period extending for four and a half years, with the estimated the total market value of the stolen items exceeding 1.7 billion yen.
The trial was scheduled to conclude on Monday with closing arguments by the prosecution and defense. However, the conclusion was postponed until September 18.
