Tokyo Olympic Games sponsor sentenced for bribing committee organiser
- Hironori Aoki, ex-boss of suit company Aoki, paid US$209,000 to Haruyuki Takahashi, a former executive of the 2020 games’ organising committee
- Takahashi has been charged with accepting bribes in return for helping companies get selected as Olympic sponsors or marketing agents
The former chairman of business suit retailer Aoki was sentenced to a suspended prison term on Friday for bribery in connection with the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, the Kyodo news agency reported.
Hironori Aoki has been sentenced to a prison term of two-and-a-half years, suspended for four years, for paying 28 million yen (US$209,000) to Haruyuki Takahashi, a former executive of the Tokyo organising committee.
Two other former Aoki officials were also sentenced to suspended prison terms.
Friday’s ruling was the first in a series of bribery cases involving Takahashi, who was previously a senior managing director at Japanese advertising giant Dentsu.
High costs, Tokyo 2020 bribery scandal weigh on Japan’s Winter Olympics bid
In February, the company was indicted over alleged bid-rigging for contracts related to test events for the Olympics in Japan.
Takahashi, meanwhile, has been charged with accepting bribes from Aoki and others in return for helping companies to be selected as Olympic sponsors or marketing agents.
Kyodo said that according to the ruling, Takahashi was approached to ensure that Aoki was selected as an Olympic sponsor.
The company quickly got a contract that included the rights for providing the uniforms for the Japanese team’s athletes.
Prosecutors are investigating a number of companies in connection with the widening scandal.
According to Japanese media reports, around two dozen open tenders for the rights to plan 56 test events were allegedly manipulated in 2018.
