Ex-Tokyo Olympics official, ad execs arrested in bid-rigging scandal- media (updated)
08/02/2023 06:53
(Adds report of arrests of ad firm executives, background)
TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Japanese prosecutors arrested a
former Tokyo Olympics organising committee official and
executives at three advertising agencies on suspicion of being
involved in bid-rigging of test events for the Games, Japanese
media reported on Wednesday.
Yasuo Mori, the former deputy executive director of the
Tokyo 2020 Games Operations Bureau, was arrested for suspected
breach of antitrust laws, the Asahi newspaper and other
publications reported.
The media reports later said the prosecutors also arrested
three executives at advertising and event-planning firms Dentsu
Inc 4324.T , Cerespo Co 9625.T and Fuji Creative Corporation,
a subsidiary of Fuji Media Holdings Inc 4676.T .
Spokespersons at Dentsu and Fuji Creative declined to
comment on the reports. A Cerespo spokesperson confirmed the
arrest of its executive. "We are very sorry for causing trouble
for our stakeholders," the company said in a statement, adding
it will fully co-operate with the investigation.
Reuters was unable to ascertain Mori's contact details for
a comment. The organising committee of the Tokyo Olympic and
Paralympic Games was dissolved in June last year.
Local media have previously reported that Tokyo prosecutors
late last year raided the offices of the country's biggest
advertising agencies including Dentsu, Hakuhodo Inc 2433.T and
ADK Holdings Inc on suspicion of their colluding to rig the bids
and orders for Olympics-related events worth an estimated 40
billion yen ($305 million).
The bid-rigging investigation comes after a bribery scandal,
in which Haruyuki Takahashi, a former member of the Tokyo 2020
Olympics board and before that a Dentsu Inc executive, was
arrested in August on suspicion of receiving bribes from Olympic
sponsors.
Executives from ADK, suits retailer Aoki Holdings 8214.T
and publishing firm Kadokawa 9468.T have also been arrested in
connection with the bribery scandal.
($1 = 131.2200 yen)
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and
Muralikumar Anantharaman)
((Kantaro.Komiya@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @kantarokomiya))