Tokyo, 6 September, /AJMEDIA/
Prosecutors plan to serve a fresh arrest warrant on Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympic Organizing committee executive already embroiled in suspected corruption cases, for allegedly accepting bribes from Kadokawa Corp., sources close to the matter said Tuesday.
The publishing company gave 70 million yen ($500,000) in 10 installments to a consulting firm run by an acquaintance of Takahashi, and prosecutors are investigating to determine whether the acquaintance asked Takahashi, 78, to help Kadokawa be chosen as a sponsor for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the sources said.
Photo taken in August 2022 shows Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive. (Kyodo)
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has questioned the acquaintance on a voluntary basis and is also looking to build a case against Kadokawa officials on bribery charges, according to the sources.
The move comes after the prosecutors searched on Monday the offices of Daiko Advertising Inc., including its Osaka headquarters and branch in Tokyo, on suspicion of bribery.
Similar to Kadokawa, the mid-tier advertising company was found to have paid a large sum of money to the acquaintance’s firm.
Of the 26 million yen sum, 10 million is suspected of having been used in connection to favors Daiko sought for a client company during the sponsorship selection process, the sources said.
Meanwhile, the sum given by Kadokawa to the entity was described as a consulting fee after the publisher became a sponsor for the Tokyo Games in April 2019, which enabled it to publish the Summer Games’ official guidebooks and records.
Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, the publisher’s chairman, said Monday he does not acknowledge whatsoever that his company had handed out any bribes.
The money was for sports-related consulting fees, the 79-year-old said, adding that he did not think any of it had been transferred to Takahashi as he “trusts (his) employees.”
Takahashi, together with clothing retailer Aoki Holdings Inc.’s former chairman Hironori Aoki and two others, have already been arrested in connection with a separate allegation of bribery totaling around 51 million yen. A decision on whether to charge them will be made on Tuesday.
Prosecutors believe Takahashi, a former senior managing director of Japan’s largest advertising agency, Dentsu Inc., held considerable sway over the organizing committee’s marketing division.
The division, which was in charge of selecting sponsors for the summer games, borrowed many Dentsu employees.
Takahashi and his acquaintance, who was also a former Dentsu employee, are believed to have also pushed for the organizing committee to use Daiko as an agent when selecting sponsors. The client company, which operates in the service industry, became a sponsor in 2018.
Daiko, in a statement, said it is fully cooperating with the investigation.
