AN INDIAN businessman has been sentenced for drug possession while on a skiing holiday to Japan.
Ness Wadia, son of industrialist Nusli Wadia and heir to the Wadia Group, was arrested in early March at New Chitose Airport in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
He was handed a two-year prison sentence, which was suspended for five years.
According to a brief report carried by a local Hokkaido station of state broadcaster NHK, customs officials at New Chitose were alerted to Wadia by sniffer dogs. A search revealed that he had about 25g of what appeared to be cannabis resin in his trouser pocket.
A court official in Sapporo told the Financial Times that Wadia, co-owner of the Kings XI Punjab cricket team, argued that the drug was for his personal use.
“Ness Wadia is in India. The judgement is clear. It’s a suspended sentence. Hence it won’t impact Ness Wadia in the discharge of any of his responsibilities,” ANI quoted a spokesperson for the Wadia Group as saying.
Wadia spent a period in detention before his indictment on March 20.
The Wadia empire owns Bombay Dyeing, Bombay Burman Trading, biscuit giant Britannia Industries and budget airline GoAir.
