Tokyo Olympics bid-rigging scandal has widened as Japanese advertising giant Dentsu and five other companies have been charged by prosecutors. Executives or management-level officials from each of the accused companies, as well as a Tokyo Olympic organizing committee official, face charges for violating anti-monopoly laws. No trial dates have been set, but the charges center around illegal collusions in assigning contracts for the Games and test events that preceded them.
Dentsu Group, Hakuhodo, Tokyu Agency, and Cerespo are among the companies facing charges, all of which deal with event organizing, sports promotion, or marketing. Yasuo Mori, a senior Olympic official, and Koji Henmi, who headed the sports division at Dentsu, were among the seven people charged and had earlier been arrested.
As a key player in securing the Tokyo Olympics bid in 2013, Dentsu became the chief marketing arm of the Games and generated a record-breaking 3.3 billion dollars in local sponsorship, at least twice as large as any previous Olympics. However, the scandal has soured the chances of Sapporo landing the 2030 Olympics and prompted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to consider Stockholm, Sweden, as a potential candidate.
Tokyo Olympics
The scandal involving Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Dentsu executive, has also been investigated and involves allegations of bribery over Olympic sponsorships won by companies like Aoki Holdings and Sun Arrow. The maximum penalty for a company convicted of bid-rigging is a fine of up to 500 million yen (approximately £3.07 million), while an individual faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 5 million yen (approximately £30,700).
Takahashi was released on bail after more than four months in detention and trials have begun for officials from companies involved in the bribery cases. The scandal highlights the importance of transparency and accountability in high-profile events like the Olympics, and the need for strict laws and regulations to prevent such wrongdoing.
