TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prosecutors on Thursday demanded a prison term of 12 years for a former MUFG Bank employee who allegedly stole gold bars and money from customer safe deposit boxes, describing the case as "an unprecedented crime."

Yukari Yamazaki, 47, is accused of stealing gold bars worth about 330 million yen ($2.2 million) and about 60 million yen in cash deposited by six customers at the bank's Nerima and Tamagawa branches in Tokyo between March 2023 and October 2024.

The prosecutors said the total amounted to 1.7 billion yen when combined with assets the woman is suspected of also stealing from other customers. Yamazaki, who changed her last name from Imamura following her initial arrest, confessed in the trial to having taken money and goods equivalent to about 1.7 billion to 1.8 billion yen.

The main banking unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. had put the amount at 1.4 billion yen and said about 70 customers were affected.

At the Tokyo District Court, prosecutors criticized Yamazaki for damaging public trust in financial institutions by abusing her position as an acting branch manager to steal large amounts of cash and assets deposited by customers.

Her defense team argued that a five-year prison term would be appropriate as Yamazaki has shown regret and cooperated with the investigation. In her closing statement at court, Yamazaki apologized for the immense social repercussions she has caused.

The court is scheduled to hand down a ruling on Oct. 6.

Yamazaki, who moved up the ranks after joining MUFG Bank in 1999, was fired in November 2024 after her theft came to light following a customer's report the previous month.

MUFG Bank has since refunded safe deposit box fees to customers of the two branches during the periods when Yamazaki worked there and is compensating for the losses incurred from her thefts.

12 yrs in prison sought for ex-MUFG Bank worker for safe deposit box thefts