Aoki Reduced Arrested Executive's Consulting Fees After Tokyo Games
NHK has learned that business suit retailer Aoki Holdings sharply reduced the consulting fees it paid to a former executive of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee after the Games ended last year.
Sources close to the case told NHK that Aoki reduced the consulting fees it had paid each month to the former executive, Takahashi Haruyuki, by half to 500,000 yen, or about 3,700 dollars, in October last year. The Tokyo Games ended in September.
This has prompted Tokyo prosecutors to believe that Aoki offered bribes to Takahashi under the pretext of consulting fees to obtain preferential treatment for sponsorship and licensing contracts.
Takahashi was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of receiving bribes totaling 380,000 dollars from former Aoki chairman Aoki Hironori and two others. The three on the Aoki side were also arrested.
One of the Aoki executives, Ueda Katsuhisa, was quoted by the sources as telling investigators that the ending of the Tokyo Games was one of the reasons why the consulting fees were reduced.
Takahashi has reportedly denied the allegations, telling investigators that the consulting fees had nothing to do with the Games.
The former Aoki chairman is also said to have told investigators that the payments were not bribes as they were not compensation for the work Takahashi did for the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.