Corruption Scandal Smudges Tokyo Olympics, Drags Aoki Holdings As Sponsor

Photo by Alex Smith on Unsplash

JAKARTA - A former Tokyo Olympic committee executive and former chairman of business clothing giant Aoki Holdings Inc. has been caught in a bribery case. The Tokyo Olympics are now marred by corruption cases.

Aoki Holdings Inc allegedly negotiated Olympic sponsorship fees nearly two years before the company was appointed as the official backer of the Olympics, the Mainichi Shimbun said.

The special investigative unit of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office believes that Haruyuki Takahashi, a former member of the executive board of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee, gave assurances that they would "informally" agree to sponsor Aoki.

The special investigative unit is investigating Takahashi for allegedly accepting bribes from former chairman Aoki Hironori Aoki, for Olympic sponsorship and other favors. The allegations arose over funds paid to Takahashi over the four years leading up to the close of the Tokyo Olympics.

Aoki is alleged to have funneled funds to Takahashi through a consulting contract signed with a company led by an executive of the organizing committee in September 2017. In October 2018, Aoki became an "official backer" of the Tokyo Olympics and sold officially licensed apparel, and other products.

According to Mainichi sources, Takahashi met former chairman Aoki in January 2017 at a steakhouse he owned in Tokyo and approached the chairman for a sponsorship fee of 750 million yen (about $5.5 million).

Aoki's former chairman and other executives continued to meet with Takahashi, and around the summer of 2017, they reportedly agreed that 250 million yen (approximately $1.8 million) of the 750 million yen would be paid in advance to an athletic organization suggested by Takahashi to cover training costs.

Meanwhile, Takahashi is said to have recommended Aoki to the organizing committee as a sponsor at a cost of 500 million yen (about $3.7 million), and asked the company to informally offer a sponsorship spot.