It seems like there’s more news of nefarious acts committed by Japanese game company ex-employees. This time, the news concerns Bandai Namco, who recently announced that a civil lawsuit was filed against a former employee who embezzled 600 million yen (~$4.6 million) by selling over 4,400 mobile devices that belonged to the company.
So, here are the brass tacks. In November 2021, it was discovered that there was a discrepancy between the number of mobile devices and devices in use. In April 2022, it was found that a former employee sold over 4,400 devices while working under Bandai Namco… Of course, this was all done without Bandai Namco’s permission.
As of December 20, 2022, the employee was fired in response to the findings. Additionally, Bandai Namco is considering filing criminal proceedings in the future and fully cooperating with any and all investigations by the relevant authorities. Additionally, the company has also decided to take some disciplinary actions against three directors of the company.
Bandai Namco subsequently apologized for the incident:
Our group takes the occurrence of this kind of incident seriously, and sincerely apologizes for the great inconvenience and concerns it has caused to our customers, shareholders, and all other concerned parties.
To prevent this situation from happening in the future, the company has drafted a Declaration of Compliance. Additionally, the company will take measures to ensure compliance awareness in the future. Currently, the company is distributing compliance-related brochures, providing in-house education through e-learning, and conducting awareness surveys on an ongoing basis.
Of course, the impact of this fraudulent case will also be noted in Bandai Namco’s financial results. The company noted that the impact of the case will be consolidated during their report for the fiscal year ending in March 2023 and will be considered immaterial. The company has also stated that it will disclose any matters that should be disclosed in the future.
