HIS, Governance Problem Investigation by Experts in Employment Settlement Fraud-Chairman Sawada Promises to Correct Fraud in the Case of GoTo Fraud
On December 13, 2024, travel giant HIS announced that it had established a special investigative committee to investigate the amount of subsidies by an external law firm and to understand governance issues in response to the scandal of fraudulent receipt of employment adjustment subsidies that came to light at the end of last month.
On November 25, 2024, HIS's consolidated subsidiary Number One Travel Shibuya (Representative: Ranjan Kumar Dasdeb) was suspected of fraudulently receiving employment adjustment subsidies during the coronavirus pandemic. An investigation is currently underway by the Tokyo Labor Bureau.
In order to verify the full amount of the employment adjustment subsidy that HIS had received, an external expert " Anderson Mori & Tomotsune As of November 25, the amount of fraudulent payments was estimated at about 100 million yen, but the law firm reported that "there is a possibility of inappropriate receipts in some cases."
The HIS Group as a whole received approximately 28.4 billion yen in employment adjustment subsidies during the period from April 2020 ~ March 2023, of which HIS itself received approximately 24 billion yen and 24 consolidated subsidiaries received approximately 4.4 billion yen.
Establishment of the Special Investigative Committee
On December 13, HIS established a special investigative committee comprised of external experts to investigate governance issues for the entire group. In the future, the committee will analyze the causes of the fraudulent receipt of benefits. HIS intends to publish the report of the committee's investigation upon receipt.
Similar examples at other companies
Meitetsu Tourism Service, a major travel company that also illegally received employment adjustment subsidies, was found to have fraudulently received about 22 million yen. In February of this year, the company returned approximately 2.9 billion yen in all subsidies it received, plus penalties and late fees.
What about the investigation into the group companies that promised to commit GoTo Travel fraud?
In the HIS Group, in the "GoTo Travel" business implemented during the Corona disaster, it was discovered that two subsidiaries fraudulently received approximately 700 million yen. At the press conference, Mr. Hideo Sawada, Chairman of HIS, promised to conduct an interview survey with the presidents of group companies in order to review governance.
However, the fraudulent receipt of the employment adjustment subsidy by Number One Travel Shibuya coincided with the time when it is believed that the interview investigation was being conducted. This time, the focus will not be on the governance survey by Chairman Sawada, but on the survey report by an external expert.
