An official has been found guilty in a bribery scheme surrounding the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Unsplash
The Olympic Games have long been lauded as the end-all-be-all of sporting competitions. An Olympic gold medal means more than any other award for most high-level athletes, but back in June, that reputation built up a little tarnish. Police raided the 2024 Olympics offices as part of corruption investigations. And now, one of several Japanese officials has been found guilty in a far-reaching bribery scandal from companies seeking sponsorships and licensing for the 2020 Games.
According to reports, about 27 million yen ($186,000) was funneled through Joji Matsui’s consulting firm to transfer funds to and from Haruyuki Takahashi, an executive on the Japanese Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee. Takahashi’s position put him in a good place to influence who would be an Olympic sponsor.
The judge presiding over the trial, Kenji Yasunaga, said that “the damage to public trust has been great.” During the trial, Matsui admitted his wrongdoing, but said he was doing so on behalf of Takahashi. Takahashi has been charged with receiving bribes from a handful of different companies totaling 200 million yen ($1.4 million). His trial is upcoming, although no date has been set as of this writing. Takahashi denies any wrongdoing.
So far, 15 people have been charged in connection with the scheme, including officials at Sun Arrow, the maker of the Olympic mascots, and a clothing manufacturer called Aoki Holdings, which was hired to dress the Japanese Olympic team.
In conjunction with the recent news that officials hit the the 2024 Olympics offices , the sterling reputation of the world’s oldest sporting contest has taken a big hit.
