\n<\/p>\n
Takeshi Niinami, one of Japan\u2019s best-known business leaders, has resigned as chief executive of the drinks company Suntory after police raided his home as part of an investigation into suspected illegal supplements.<\/p>\n
His resignation from the owner of the Jim Beam whisky brand has sent shockwaves through Japan\u2019s corporate world, with Suntory executives attempting to reassure investors and consumers at a hastily arranged news conference.<\/p>\n
The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper said police were investigating Niinami over a suspected violation of Japan\u2019s strict cannabis laws. The executive, who has not commented publicly on the allegations, reportedly offered to resign after returning from an overseas trip on Monday.<\/p>\n
Media reports said police had searched his luxury apartment in Tokyo last month, adding that a urine sample had been taken. No illegal substances were found, they said.<\/p>\n
The broadcaster Nippon TV, citing unnamed sources, said Niinami was suspected of importing products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, from the US. While CBD products are legal in Japan, they must be free of THC. Possession of cannabis can be punishable by up to seven years in prison.<\/p>\n
Niinami, who has denied any wrongdoing, told the company he had bought the supplements in the belief that they were legal, Suntory\u2019s president, Nobuhiro Torii, said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire company will work together to regain trust,\u201d Torii said. Suntory had concluded that Niinami\u2019s actions \u201cinevitably fall short of the qualities required\u201d of a chief executive, he said, adding that executives felt there was no need to wait until the end of the police investigation before accepting his resignation.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Suntory president Nobuhiro Torii and vice-president Kenji Yamada bow during a press conference announcing the resignation of Niinami.<\/span> Photograph: AP<\/p>\n Niinami\u2019s departure will raise questions over the future of his strategy, launched when he became chief executive more than a decade ago, to raise Suntory\u2019s global profile to address slowing consumption at home and counter intense international competition.<\/p>\n As chair of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, the country\u2019s second-biggest business lobby group, the Harvard-educated executive has used his regular media appearances to criticise traditional business practices. Internationally, he was seen as an antidote to Japan\u2019s risk-averse corporate culture.<\/p>\n He is also a member of prime minister Shigeru Ishiba\u2019s Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/span><\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Unusually for a Japanese executive, Niinami has publicly commented on sensitive political and social issues. In July he called on the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates \u2013 a move he said would relieve pressure on households struggling with the cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n In 2023, he criticised Japan\u2019s former biggest boyband agency after revelations about decades of sexual abuse by its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa.<\/p>\n Niinami joined Suntory, one of the world\u2019s biggest drinks groups, in 2014 \u2013 becoming the first executive outside the founding family \u2013 after 12 years as chief executive of the convenience store chain Lawson.<\/p>\n Known for its celebrated single malt whiskies, Suntory has 265 group companies and employs more than 40,000 people worldwide. Its brands include Laphroaig, Orangina and Lucozade. In 2014 it acquired the US maker of Jim Beam for $16bn to become one of the world\u2019s biggest spirits makers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Takeshi Niinami, one of Japan\u2019s best-known business leaders, has resigned as chief executive of the drinks company Suntory after police raided his home as part of an investigation into suspected illegal supplements. His resignation from the owner of the Jim Beam whisky brand has sent shockwaves through Japan\u2019s corporate world, with Suntory executives attempting to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[3277,4470,1725,408,1545,1037,1462,557,11658,4026,6411,6629],"class_list":{"0":"post-19050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-ceo","9":"tag-drink","10":"tag-food","11":"tag-illegal","12":"tag-industry","13":"tag-investigation","14":"tag-maker","15":"tag-resigns","16":"tag-suntorys","17":"tag-supplements","18":"tag-suspected","19":"tag-whisky"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}