Japanese police have launched new raids in connection with a case of receiving suspicious funds for a senior official of the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics last summer from a Japanese company that later became the official sponsor of the world event. according to Japanese media, according to Japanese media.

The home of former Oki Holdings clothing store president Hironori Aoki, 83, and the former offices of the Olympic Organizing Committee at government headquarters in the Japanese capital were reportedly raided.

On Tuesday, police raided the home of Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, a former high-ranking official of the Olympic organizing committee that was dissolved last month.

Takahashi, the former CEO of Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, is suspected to have received the equivalent of more than €320,000 from Oki Holdings in 2017 after a contract was signed between his consulting firm and the group, which became an official partner in 2018. The Tokyo Olympics, which were held in the summer, have been postponed for a year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Takahashi is not expected to accept any money or gifts due to his role as a board member of Tokyo 2020 since 2014. Despite the allegations, Takahashi denied any conflict of interest in the Oki Holdings deal last week to the Japanese press.

In response to an AFP question, Tokyo prosecutors declined to comment on the investigation.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said on Wednesday that the case was “extremely unsuccessful” and that she intends to “closely” follow its development, assuring reporters that she has asked former members of the Olympic organizing committee to “cooperate fully with the investigation.”

Suspicions of corruption began to surface over the conditions of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In March 2019, JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda resigned months after French justice found him guilty of making payments to Singapore-based Black Tidings before and after the selection of the archipelago to host the Games of the International Olympic Committee.

French investigators claim Black News is an “empty shell” that leads to Papa Massata Diack, the son of Senegal’s head of athletics and former IOC member Lamine Diack, who was implicated in corruption cases and died in December 2021 in age 88 years.