Japanese advertising agency Dentsu has been fined 300 million yen (£1.56m/€1.86m/$1.94m) after admitting to rigging bid contracts for test events ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Koji Henmi, a former Dentsu executive, has also been handed a two-year prison sentence, suspended for four years, for his role in the awarding of contracts. Both Dentsu and Henmi have appealed against the rulings made by the Tokyo District Court.
Japanese news agency Kyodo reports that Dentsu has admitted to “rigging bids” for test event contracts worth more than 500 million yen, but the company has denied colluding with others to restrict around 43.1 billion yen worth of contracts related to Games operations.
The court heard that companies which were awarded test event contracts were told they were likely to be awarded contracts for the Games themselves. Presiding Judge Kenji Yasunaga said that Dentsu was aware of this.
Henmi’s sentence was suspended after the court ruled that he did not act for personal gain, and that there was no evidence that the information was exchanged in a way that enabled the firms to secure assignments.
Henmi was arrested in February 2023 alongside Yasuo Mori, a former official on the Tokyo 2020 organising committee. The pair were alleged to have conspired with one another to award the test event contracts. Mori received a suspended two-year sentence in December 2023.
In a statement released today (Thursday), Dentsu Group said that it has filed an appeal with the Tokyo High Court against the Tokyo District Court’s ruling.
The company accepted that there was a “violation of laws and regulations” in connection to the planning and related operations for Games test events. Dentsu said it has implemented measures to prevent recurrence based upon “serious reflection”.
The statement added: “However, the Tokyo District Court’s ruling stated that the violation of laws and regulations extended beyond the planning and related operations for the test events.
“The ruling stated it also applied to the implementation and related operations of the test events, and the management and operation of the main event, which greatly differs from the company’s stance. At the upcoming appeal trial, the company plans to reiterate its stance and seek a correction of this decision.”
