TOKYO – Suntory Holdings Ltd. Chairman and CEO Takeshi Niinami has stepped down due to an ongoing investigation over the alleged purchase of a dietary supplement suspected to be illegal in Japan, the major Japanese brewer company said Tuesday.
Niinami, a prominent 66-year-old Japanese business figure, has led the Japan Association of Corporate Executives since April 2023 and has long served as a private-sector member of the government’s key council on economic and fiscal policy.
Suntory Holdings President Nobuhiro Torii apologized for Niinami’s resignation, which took effect Monday, during a press conference. The company stated that it concluded that Niinami’s actions “demonstrated a lack of awareness regarding supplements” and “rendered him unable to continue in the key position” of chairman.
File photo taken on Jan. 7, 2025, shows Takeshi Niinami at a press conference in Tokyo. (Kyodo)
While noting that Niinami has insisted that he purchased the supplement believing it to be legal, the company said, “For the top executive management of Suntory Group, strict compliance with laws and regulations is fundamental, and exercising appropriate caution in purchasing supplements is an indispensable quality.”
Niinami’s case follows another high-profile drug related resignation of a business leader in Japan, in which then Olympus Corp. CEO Stefan Kaufmann stepped down in October 2024 over an allegation that he purchased illegal drugs.
Kaufmann was sentenced later that year to 10 months in prison, suspended for three years.
Suntory’s board members unanimously agreed to demand Niinami’s resignation. Niinami offered to quit for personal reasons and the company accepted his resignation as of Monday.
The company also noted that the supplement in question is not a Suntory Group product.
According to investigative sources, Niinami’s house in Tokyo and other locations were searched by police on Aug. 22, based on information provided by customs authorities in southwestern Japan regarding the import of a substance likely illegal in Japan.
The Fukuoka prefectural police did not find any illegal drugs during the search, but have questioned Niinami on a voluntary basis to see if he had any knowledge of the substance’s illegality and to determine whether they should build a criminal case against him, the sources said.
The drug in question, which contains a high percentage of a substance derived from cannabis, was allegedly shipped from the United States by an acquaintance of Niinami, according to the sources.
It is seen as effective in treating backache and insomnia, they added.
Niinami, a graduate of the Harvard Business School, took the helm of major convenience store chain Lawson Inc. as president in 2002. He became the first Suntory Holdings president from outside the founding family in 2014.