Tokyo 2020 ex-board member got more payments from Olympic sponsor - media
31/07/2022 08:00
YOKOHAMA, July 31 (Reuters) - A company run by a former
Tokyo Olympic organiser received more than $1 million from Games
sponsor AOKI Holdings Inc 8214.T , on top of payments from the
suit retailer being investigated by Tokyo prosecutors, Japanese
media said.
AOKI paid about 230 million yen ($1.7 million) to a
subsidiary of advertising agency Dentsu in the fall of 2017,
which was later transferred to a company run by Haruyuki
Takahashi, a former member of the Tokyo 2020 Organising
Committee board, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.
Tens of millions of yen were then transferred to two sports
organisations, while Takahashi's firm kept the remaining 150
million yen, the newspaper said.
The Yomiuri newspaper on Sunday put the initial payment at
250 million yen ($1.9 million).
Takahashi, a former executive at advertising giant Dentsu
Inc, did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters
seeking comment. AOKI, Dentsu and its owner, Tokyo-listed Dentsu
Group Inc 4324.T , could not be reached for comment.
Takahashi and AOKI's former chairman, Hironori Aoki, said
there was nothing illegal about the money, the Nikkei reported.
It quoted a source as saying Takahashi told prosecutors the
money was paid as remuneration for consulting work he had been
doing since 2009 and not something he had received as organising
committee director.
Japanese media last week showed prosecutors entering
Takahashi's home and AOKI's headquarters. The reports said
prosecutors were investigating 45 million yen ($340,000) in
suspected inappropriate payments to him from.
Dentsu, which the media reported was also searched, said it
was cooperating with prosecutors. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z706Q
No one at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office was
available to comment outside of regular business hours on
Sunday. The office previously told Reuters it would not comment
on an individual case.
Reuters reported in March 2020 that Takahashi was paid more
than $8 million in 2013 and 2014 by the Tokyo Olympic bid
committee for undisclosed activities. At the time, he told
Reuters his work included lobbying International Olympic
Committee (IOC) members and said there was nothing improper with
the payments he received or the way in which he used the money.
IOC chief Thomas Bach said those payments did not break IOC
rules.
($1 = 133.1900 yen)
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Japan businessman paid $8.2 mln by Tokyo Olympics bid lobbied
figure at center of French corruption probe https://reut.rs/3Sr0bUH
IOC's Bach says Tokyo bid payments to former Dentsu exec did not
break rules https://reut.rs/3PQQ1La
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(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Additional reporting by Kiyoshi
Takenaka; Editing by William Mallard)
((daniel.leussink@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@danielleussink;))