Former Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie AP PHOTO

Although the founder of the Internet services firm spoke calmly for most of the proceedings, he was clearly shaken by the prosecutors' line of questioning, which did not touch on the charges.

When asked what his duties were as chief executive officer, Horie began by saying it was "to work hard and to try to do my best in various fields."

Horie then told the prosecutors questioning him that they were trying to make him slip up and refused speak any more about his job.

"We just imitated companies in the U.S. and put CEO in my title to make it sound cool. There's no real significance to it," he said.

Prosecutors are trying to establish Horie as a selfish boss who was mainly interested in raising the company's market value.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 25, 2006
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