Whisky maker Suntory’s CEO resigns amid investigation into suspected illegal supplements | Food & drink industry

TAKESHİ NİINAMİ, one of Japan’s most well -known business leaders, resigned as the general manager of the beverage company Suntery, after raving the police as part of the suspicious illegal supplements investigation.

The resignation of Jim Beam Visci brand from the owner sent shock waves through the corporate world of Japan, and Suntory executives are trying to assure investors and consumers at a hasty news conference.

The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper said the police investigated Niinami that Japan had violated the strict cannabis laws. The execution, which is not public about the allegations, reportedly offered to resign after returning from a overseas trip on Monday.

Media reports, the police last month in Tokyo luxury apartment and urine sample was taken, he added. They said there was no illegal substance.

Nippon TV, referring to anonymous sources, said that Niinami was suspected of importing products containing THC, a psychoactive component in cannabis. CBD products are legal in Japan, but do not contain THC. Keeping can be sentenced to imprisonment of up to seven years.

Nobuhiro Torii, the president of Sundory, said Niinami, who refused to make any mistakes, believed that they were legally legal.

“The whole company will work together to gain confidence,” Torii said. Sundory concluded that Niinami’s actions were “inevitably insufficient from the necessary qualities ,, and he felt that he felt that there was no need to wait until the end of the police investigation before accepting the resignation of the executives.

The separation of Niinami will ask questions about the future of the strategy initiated when he becomes the general manager more than ten years ago, to raise the global profile of Sundory to slow down at home and resist intense international competition.

Trained by Harvard, the second largest business lobby group of the country, the President of the Japanese Corporate Administrators Association, used regular media views to criticize traditional business practices. Internationally, it was seen as a antidote to Japan’s risk of avoidance of risk.

He is also a member of the Economic and Finance Policy Council of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

For an extraordinary Japanese ruler, Niinami commented on the public on sensitive political and social issues. In July, he called on Japan Bank to increase interest rates – a move he said, he said he would alleviate the pressure on the households struggling with the cost of the life crisis.

In 2023, he criticized Japan’s largest male band agency after a revelation on sexual abuse by late founder Johnny Kitagawa.

In 2014, Niinami joined Sundory, one of the largest beverage groups in the world – became the first manager outside the founding family – as the General Manager of the Market Chain Lawson, 12 years later.

SunTtory, known for its famous single Malt whiskey, has 265 group companies and employs more than 40,000 people worldwide. Brands include Laphroaig, Orange and Lucozade. In 2014, the US manufacturer of Jim Beam for $ 16 billion made one of the largest spirit producers in the world.