Tokyo Court Fines Event Firm for Bid-Rigging over Tokyo Games

   Tokyo, Dec. 18 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court on Wednesday ordered major Japanese event company Cerespo Co. to pay a fine of 280 million yen for violating the antimonopoly law by rigging bids linked to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021.
   The court also sentenced former Cerespo executive Yoshiji Kamata, 61, to 22 months in prison, suspended for four years. Kamata is expected to appeal the ruling.
   Presiding judge Kenji Yasunaga said that Kamata and other Cerespo officials moved to predetermine winning bidders with other companies in accordance with the wishes of a 57-year-old then senior official of the Tokyo Games organizing committee who has been convicted.
   According to the ruling, Kamata conspired with the organizing committee official and others to decide in advance which companies would win contracts related to test events for the Tokyo Games between February and July 2018.
   In the bid-rigging case, six companies, including Cerespo, and seven individuals--each company's related official and the then organizing committee official--were indicted. Among them, major advertising agency Hakuhodo Inc. was ordered to pay a fine of 200 million yen in July this year.

(2024/12/18-18:15)