Its organizing committee was dissolved at the end of June, but the Tokyo Olympic Games (OG) are back in the news through new suspicions of corruption, which have brought the daily Mainichi to publish, on Friday 29 July, an editorial calling for “shed light” on a scandal “harming the values of Olympism”.
The same day, the Tokyo public prosecutor’s office continued its searches at the headquarters of the clothing giant Aoki Holdings, after an intervention at the home of the company’s boss, Hironori Aoki, at the headquarters of the Olympic Games organizing committee and in the premises. from the advertising agency Dentsu.
The investigation also targets Haruyuki Takahashi, former executive of Dentsu and former member of the executive committee of the organizing committee of the Olympics, whose consulting company would have received from 2017 to 2021, 45 million yen (331,000 euros) from ‘OK. The payments would be linked to the company’s desire to expedite the procedures to become a sponsor of the Games and obtain from the marketing division of the organizing committee the right to sell products stamped with the Olympic logos.
The procedure would have been considered too slow by Hironori Aoki, who would then have approached Mr. Takahashi, whom he has known for a long time. Aoki became a sponsor of the Olympic Games in 2018 and was able to sell 30,000 costumes adorned with the Olympic logos, while obtaining the market for uniforms for referees and judges for the summer 2021 competitions. Mr. Takahashi denied any wrongdoing, explaining that the amounts paid were intended for “advisory fees unrelated to the Olympics”.
“Godfather” of the sports sector in Japan
The 78-year-old businessman finds himself embroiled in a dubious new affair, which does not seem to disturb the man who was described as ” godfather “ of the sports sector in Japan in 2016 by the monthly Sentaku.
Joined Dentsu after graduating from the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo, he oversaw the creation, in 1982, of ISL, an agency founded by the Japanese company with the German equipment manufacturer Adidas. ISL then holds the monopoly of the broadcasting of the Football World Cup. In addition to his involvement in football, Mr. Takahashi is said to have established, from 1984, strong contacts with the International Olympic Committee. It was thanks to him that Dentsu was able to represent the International Athletics Federation, the IAAF.
The man was able to create a powerful international network, approaching personalities like Sepp Blatter, the former leader of the International Football Federation. He used to receive his guests at Sorasio, a luxury restaurant he owned, located at 46e floor of the tower signed Jean Nouvel owned, until 2021, by Dentsu, in Tokyo.
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