Japan: corruption scandals linked to the 2020 Olympics come to the surface
The building of the Japanese advertising giant Dentsu in Tokyo, photographed this Tuesday, February 28, 2023. AP
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Dentsu, Japan's largest advertising agency at the heart of a series of corruption scandals linked to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, is being sued by Japanese prosecutors.
Five other companies suspected of anti-competitive practices are also the subject of legal proceedings.
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With our correspondent in Tokyo,
Frédéric Charles
Japanese prosecutors have already arrested a senior Tokyo Olympics organizing committee official and three businessmen.
They are accused of rigging tenders related to the event.
Two other advertising agencies, Hakuhodo and Tokyu, as well as event production companies, are also being sued.
They agreed to control the awarding of service contracts for events before and during the Games, in violation of competition rules.
The investigation is mainly aimed at Haruyuki Takahashi, a former executive of Dentsu and former member of the executive committee of the organization of the Olympic Games, arrested earlier.
His consulting firm is accused of having received bribes from several companies to become a sponsor of the Games and obtain the right to sell products bearing their logo.
If Dentsu weighs very heavily in the marketing of the biggest sporting events in the world, it is thanks to Haruyuki Takahashi.
In the 1980s, he created with the equipment manufacturer Adidas an ISL company to hold the monopoly of the broadcasting of the Football World Cup.
Subsequently, Dentsu would extend its dominance to the Olympics and the International Athletics Federation.
For the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Dentsu had obtained exclusive marketing rights.
►Also read: In Tokyo, the fiasco of the 2020 Olympics scares the Japanese
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