Japan’s Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by major advertising firm Dentsu Group, which was fined 300 million yen, or about 1.9 million dollars, for rigging bids linked to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
Dentsu Group and a former executive, Henmi Koji, were charged with antimonopoly act violations for arranging in advance with other companies the winners of bids to plan the Games’ test events and to run actual competitions. The projects were worth 43.7 billion yen, or about 280 million dollars, in total.
The defendants denied rigging bids for most of the projects.
But the Tokyo District Court found them guilty, and said Dentsu cannot avoid criticism for hampering fair competition despite being in a position to influence other firms as the largest in Japan’s advertising industry.
The court ordered Dentsu to pay 300 million yen in fines, and sentenced the former executive to two years in prison suspended for four years.
The Tokyo High Court dismissed the defendants’ appeal.
They brought the case to the top court, but the presiding justice of the First Petty Bench had decided on the dismissal as of Wednesday.
Dentsu is the first of six firms indicted for bid-rigging in connection with the Tokyo Games to have its conviction finalized.
AloJapan.com