The CEO of Japanese spirits giant Suntory who resigned over a drugs probe said Wednesday he was innocent, and that he was recommended cannabidiol to cope with his hard travel schedule.
Takeshi Niinami, one of Japan’s best-known business people, quit this week after he was put under investigation regarding his involvement in supplements sent from the United States to Japan.
“I have not broken the law and consider myself innocent,” Niinami told a press conference.
The 66-year-old said he believed he bought products with the active ingredient cannabidiol, or CBD, that do not break Japan’s strict drug law.
“I travel frequently for work, so I suffer terribly from jet lag,” said Niinami who has served as an economic adviser to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
“That’s why my acquaintance… strongly recommended CBD.”
Japan has strict drug laws and possession can result in jail time.
The rule Japan introduced in 2023 leaves CBD products unregulated, but it targets THC — the psychoactive substance that makes people high.
Niinami was suspected of importing products containing THC, local media reported.
But he said he used to buy the same product in Japan, and believed those in the US were safe to purchase.
Police searched his home last month after the arrest of the brother of an acquaintance who received a package containing supplements from the United States.
Public broadcaster NHK said police learnt that the brother intended to send it to Niinami’s house in Tokyo.
The former CEO, however, said he “was not informed of this at all, and it is unclear whether it is the supplements I purchased”.
Suntory on Tuesday said the company had accepted Niinami’s resignation, saying authorities will determine whether the supplements are illegal.
However, company president Nobuhiro Torii said the company concluded that Niinami’s actions “inevitably fall short of the qualities required” of a CEO.
Niinami will refrain from activities as the head of business lobby Keizai Doyukai for the moment and leave the decision whether he will stay in the group.
He joined Suntory Holdings in 2014, after serving as CEO of convenience store chain Lawson.
Suntory is known for its internationally acclaimed whisky and has become one of the world’s biggest spirits makers after acquiring the US maker of Jim Beam, a few months before Niinami joined.
In 2024, the German-born former CEO of optical equipment firm Olympus was found guilty of a drug charge.
In 2017, a German executive working at Volkswagen’s Tokyo office was arrested on suspicion of drug use.
