Overview

• The Kanto-Shinetsu Regional Taxation Bureau has flagged about ¥1.1 billion in concealed income tied to NST Niigata Sogo TV.
• The external committee found that benefits to ad-agency staff began around 2011 with gift certificates and overseas trips, with gift-card purchases peaking at ¥14.5 million in fiscal 2016.
• After tax scrutiny and pandemic constraints, the practice shifted from visible gifts to routing money through fictitious commercial production fees starting around 2018.
• The report concludes management prioritized sales and tolerated benefit-giving, and it details a former employee’s scheme using a relative’s company to inflate outsourcing and book nonexistent ads, controlling roughly ¥1.05 billion over six years.
• President Masahiko Sakai apologized, announced a 56% cut to his annual pay with no bonus, cited stronger internal controls, and disclosed one dismissal and five disciplinary actions already taken.