The Japanese Prosecutor’s Office has arrested on Tuesday two managers of a company that sponsored the Olympic Games (JJOO) held in Tokyo. The judges investigate a possible bribery in which he would be involved Haruyuki Takahashiformer Tokyo 2020 board member.
The company Kadokawa Corp. paid 70 million yen, about 500,000 euros, to a company linked to Takahashias reported by the newspaper Nikkei. The Prosecutor’s Office suspects the former member of the board helped the company to be a sponsor in the Olympic Games of the Japanese country.
Prosecutors have arrested two Kadokawa officials and searched their office on Tuesday, as confirmed by the company itself. “The company will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities’ investigations,” they said in a statement. The company has not provided further details on the matter.
The Japanese Justice arrested Takahashi last August and keeps him in preventive detention on suspicion of bribery. The Prosecutor’s Office has extended his detention to be able to question him further, according to Reuters.
Haruyuki Takahashi received millions of euros for working on Japan’s bid for the 2020 Olympics, which were held a year later due to the pandemic. The employer has assured that his role was key in securing the support of former Games agent Lamine Diack. The French prosecutor’s office later investigated Diack for allegedly receiving bribes to help the Japanese candidacy.
Takahashi admitted that he gave gifts to the former agent, a member of the International Olympic Committee. But the businessman defended that there was nothing improper in his way of using the money. Diack, one of the most powerful men in athletics, went to jail in 2020 for corruption and died in 2021 at the age of 88.
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