For the purpose of investigating the effect of sulfur ligands on the metal complex electronic states, a soft scorpionate ligand, which bears three sulfur coordination sites on a molecule, was used to afford a novel high-spin cobalt(II) complex, [Co II (Tbz) 2 ] (Tbz − =hydrotris(2-mercaptobenzothiazolyl)borate), having an octahedral [Co II S 6 ] core. Based on the electronic spectrum of the complex consisting of two d-d bands, the ligand-field splitting and the Racah parameter were estimated as Δ 0 /hc=8000cm −1 and B/hc=560cm −1 , respectively. The latter proved remarkable nephelauxetic effect arising from delocalization of d-electrons over the ligands. These parameters were successfully utilized in the simulation of the magnetic susceptibility.