Crime & Courts

300-M.-Yen Fine Upheld for Dentsu Group over Bid-Rigging

The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Dentsu headquarters

Jiji Press

16:54 JST, July 31, 2025

Tokyo, July 31 (Jiji Press)—Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling ordering advertising giant Dentsu Group Inc. to pay ¥300 million in fines over bid-rigging related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021.

The high court also maintained the lower court’s ruling that sentenced Koji Henmi, 58, former assistant head of the sports department of Dentsu Inc., the group’s core subsidiary, to two years in prison, suspended for four years.

According to the Tokyo District Court ruling, Henmi conspired with a 58-year-old former senior official of the Tokyo Games organizing committee and others between February and July 2018 to preselect the winners of contracts for planning Tokyo Games test events and managing venues for actual competitions.

In the appeal trial, the defense argued that Dentsu Group and Henmi did not intend to rig bids or seek unfair profits. Public prosecutors demanded the dismissal of the appeal.

In connection with the case, prosecutors have indicted six companies including Dentsu Group and six individuals from the companies, as well as the 58-year-old former Tokyo Games organizing committee official, whose guilty verdict has become final.

Of them, four companies including ad agency Hakuhodo Inc., as well as four individuals have been found guilty. The remaining two companies and two officials are still waiting for their initial court rulings.