February 08, (THEWILL) – Japanese prosecutors have made four arrests in connection with allegations of bid rigging for contracts related to test events before the Olympics.
Yasuo Mori, a Tokyo 2020 Operations Executive, has been arrested and had his home searched, as agents investigate the assignment of contracts in violation of the anti-monopoly law. The arrest has been described as “extremely regrettable” by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, who has instructed the liquidation corporation to continue cooperating with authorities.
Dentsu advertising agency executive, Koji Hemmi and event production executives, Yoshiji Kamata from Cerespo Company and Masahiko Fujino, from Fuji Creative Corporation, were also arrested. The offices of both companies were searched by investigators in cooperation with the Japan Fair Trade Commission. Prosecutors have alleged that Mori collaborated with Dentsu personnel to arrange successful bidders for test events and exchanged emails with companies to influence the bidding process.
The offences are thought to have taken place in 2018 when 26 open tenders for the Tokyo 2020 test events were launched. Nine companies, including Dentsu and Hakuhodo Inc, were awarded contracts for a total of JPY538 million. The successful companies also received contracts for the Olympic and Paralympic competitions, worth JPY40 billion.
This is not the first arrest related to the Olympic scandal, as former Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member Haruyuki Takahashi was arrested last August and now stands accused of receiving around JPY200 million. The fallout from the scandal prompted the decision to suspend Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics in December.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
