The Tokyo District Court has sentenced two former representatives of a stuffed toy sales company to bribe a former organising committee member in exchange for facilitating the sale of merchandise for the Games mascot in a corruption case involving the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Yoshihiro Sekiguchi (75), the former representative of Sun Arrow in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, which manufactured and sold stuffed toys for the mascot of the Games, and his son and former president Taiji Sekiguchi (50) were accused of bribery for bribing Haruyuki Takahashi, 79, a former member of the organizing committee, in return for facilitating the sale of stuffed toys.
In a ruling on the 6th, Chief Judge Yasuaki Takahashi of the Tokyo District Court pointed out that the former directors were asked to receive arrangements favorable to the company, such as facilitating the conclusion of license agreements, and gave 1.5% of the total sales amount to the former directors as a bribe for the purpose of rewards.
On top of that, the two men were sentenced to one year in prison and three years of suspended sentence on the grounds that "the two men have acknowledged the facts and are remorseful."
This is the third time that a verdict has been handed down in a corruption case involving the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.