Japan ad giant charged in Olympic bid-rigging case
The Tokyo Olympic bid-rigging scandal widened on Tuesday with Japanese advertising giant Dentsu and five other companies charged by Tokyo district prosecutors. Executives or management-level officials at each of the accused companies, and a Tokyo Olympic organising committee official, were charged with violating anti-monopoly laws. No trial dates have been set. The charges centre around the companies and individuals illegally colluding in assigning contracts for the Games, and test events that came before the Games, according to prosecutors. Among the companies facing charges are Dentsu Group, Hakuhodo, Tokyu Agency and Cerespo. All deal with event organising, 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. Both Mori and Henmi were arrested earlier this month. Dentsu was a key force in landing the Olympics for Tokyo in 2013. French prosecutors have looked into allegations that International Olympic Committee members may have been bribed to vote for Tokyo. Once the Olympics landed in Tokyo, Dentsu became the chief marketing arm of the Games and raised a record of US$3.3 billion in local sponsorship. That was at least twice as large as any previous Olympics. Tokyo organisers say they spent US$13 billion to organise the 2020 Olympics, which were delayed a year by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, a government audit suggests the expenditure might have been twice that. At least 60 percent was public money. The Tokyo scandal has soured the chances of the northern city of Sapporo of landing the 2030 Olympics. It was the early favourite. The IOC has recently sought out Stockholm, Sweden, as a potential candidate. The maximum penalty for a company convicted of bid-rigging is a fine of up to 500 million yen (US$3.7 million). An individual, if found guilty, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 5 million yen (US$37,000). (AP)