Japanese authorities carried out raids on Friday as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities in the awarding of competitions for the organization of events rehearsal for the Tokyo Olympics, held last year.
The raids, carried out by the Tokyo Prosecutor’s Office and Japanese antitrust authorities, took place at the headquarters of Japan’s largest advertising agency, Dentsu, which also helped organize the Games, as well as event producer Cerespo, NHK public television reported. .
According to NHK, Dentsu and other companies negotiated prizes in advance to organize rehearsal events for the Olympic and Paralympic Games last summer.
olympic organizing committee could be involved in the irregularitiessince the winning companies were selected from a list prepared by the organization.
A total of 26 contests valued at more than 500 million yen (about 3.5 million euros) is under investigationfollowing the arrest of a member of the organizing committee leadership for allegedly receiving bribes.
The alleged recipient of the money and a central figure in the case is Haruyuki Takahashi, 78.
takahashi is in custodyaccused of receiving almost 200 million yen (1.4 million euros) from at least five companies, including various sponsors of the event, including the Kadokawa publishing house and the Aoki clothing chain.
Source: Observadora
