Tokyo Olympics sponsor held in bribery probe

Tokyo — Japanese prosecutors arrested two officials at a sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday as part of a bribery investigation that media said involved a former member of the Tokyo 2020 board.

The Nikkei newspaper reported that the publisher Kadokawa paid ¥70-million ($498,000) to a company linked to the then Tokyo 2020 board member Haruyuki Takahashi, who prosecutors suspect helped the company become a sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics.

Kadokawa confirmed that prosecutors had arrested two officials at the company and raided its office on Tuesday over bribery allegations.

“The company will continue to fully co-operate with the authorities' investigations,” it said in a statement. It declined to comment on details of the matter because of the investigation.

Shares in Kadokawa ended the day 5.42% lower.

Takahashi is in custody after being arrested last month on suspicion of bribery surrounding the Games.

Reuters reported in 2020 that Takahashi, who was paid millions of dollars to work on Tokyo’s successful bid for the Olympics, said he played a key role in securing the support of a former Olympics power broker who was later suspected by French prosecutors of taking bribes to help Japan’s bid.

Takahashi told Reuters at that time his work included lobbying International Olympic Committee member Lamine Diack, to whom he gave gifts, including digital cameras and a Seiko watch. He said then that there was nothing improper with the payments he received or with the way he used the money.

Diack, once one of the most powerful people in athletics, was jailed in France in 2020 for corruption. He died last year at the age of 88.

Reuters