The Japanese flag and Olympic rings on the Japan Olympic Museum close to the Nationwide Stadium in Tokyo on February 17.
Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
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Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
The Japanese flag and Olympic rings on the Japan Olympic Museum close to the Nationwide Stadium in Tokyo on February 17.
Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
SEOUL, South Korea. Japan’s largest promoting company Dentsu and 5 different companies have been accused of rigging public sale outcomes forward of the 2021 Summer season Olympics. The escalating scandal means that preparations for a few of the world’s highest-level sporting occasions have been something however aggressive.
Prosecutors filed costs after receiving complaints from the Japan Honest Commerce Fee. The complaints allege that Dentsu, its primary competitor Hakuhodo, in addition to 4 different companies and 7 people falsified bids for the Olympic take a look at occasions.
The occasions had been costume rehearsals held between 2018 and 2021 to examine Olympic venues and familiarize athletes and workers with them. The Video games will principally be remembered for being postponed for a 12 months and being held regardless of widespread public opposition to persevering with with the Video games throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dentsu Group President and CEO Hiroshi Igarashi admitted to prosecutors that his agency was concerned within the bid rigging, Japanese media reported. In about half of the 26 take a look at occasions, there was just one agency supply for every, leading to greater than $300 million price of contracts being awarded with none competitors, a potential violation of Japan’s antitrust legal guidelines.
Dentsu was answerable for organizing company sponsors for the video games, a task it has had for the reason that 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Final 12 months, prosecutors arrested a former Dentsu government as a part of a separate investigation into Olympic corruption. Haruyuki Takahashi, a former member of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, was detained together with the heads of a number of companies suspected of giving him bribes in alternate for Olympic sponsorship offers.
French prosecutors additionally investigated Takahashi on suspicion that he bribed a member of the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) in an try to safe Tokyo’s proper to host the video games.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike says that if allegations of bidding fraud on the take a look at occasion are confirmed, she is going to search damages from Dentsu and different organizers for the rise in the price of internet hosting the video games for host metropolis Tokyo and for taxpayers.
One of many potential victims of corruption scandals was the northern Japanese metropolis of Sapporo. Sapporo is a favourite among the many potential hosts of the 2030 Winter Video games. However in December, she put her bid on maintain amid public outcry over corruption scandals. The IOC has delayed selecting a venue for the 2030 video games as a consequence of local weather change considerations.
