Japanese police raided the home of a member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games organizing committee on Tuesday amid allegations of receiving money from a sponsor with whom he signed a consulting contract, local media reported.
Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, is suspected to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from clothing trading company Oki Holdings and was the “official partner” of a massive sporting event that took place last year after it was postponed for a year due to the outbreak. corona pandemic. This may have constituted bribery as Takahashi was considered a quasi-government official and was not allowed to accept money or gifts related to his position, the Kyodo news agency reported. Tokyo prosecutors told AFP they could not comment on individual cases. According to local media reports, the sports consulting firm run by Takahashi is suspected of taking money from Aoki in exchange for a contract signed in 2017. In October 2018, OK became a sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics, allowing it to use the event’s logo and sell officially licensed products. Takahashi told the Yomiuri Shimbun last week that the money his company received was spent on consulting services. He was quoted as saying that “there was no conflict of interest with my position as member of the Board of Directors of the Organizing Committee”.
OK also issued a statement last week saying it does not comment on payment reports. Takahashi, the former CEO of Japan’s largest advertising agency Dentsu, has been on the Tokyo 2020 board of directors since June 2014. The Organizing Committee of the Olympics was dissolved last month. Former organizing committee chairman Seiko Hashimoto told reporters she would “fully cooperate” with the investigation if asked to do so. “It’s a shame that things like this surfaced after the event. We must act in a way that does not pollute what has been achieved even with the pandemic,” she added.
