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Dentsu Officials Admit to Rigging Bids for Tokyo Olympics Contracts
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
On Wednesday, prosecutors also charged Hironori Aoki, his brother Takahisa Aoki, and Katsuhisa Ueda — all former executives of investment firm Aoki Holdings — with giving US$28 million yen ($215,000) in bribes to former Tokyo Olympics Committee member Haruyuki Takahashi. Prosecutors are seeking a 30-month prison sentence for Hironori Aoki, an 18-month sentence for Takahisa Aoki, and a one-year sentence for Ueda. The ruling will take place on April 21.
Additionally, current Kadokawa president Takeshi Natsuno stated on Thursday that the company "seriously betrayed public trust," and said it would strengthen oversight to prevent more wrongdoings in the future. Kadokawa board chair Tsuguhiko Kadokawa and vice-chair Masaki Matsubara resigned in October, after Tsuguhiko Kadokawa was arrested on September 14 on suspicion of bribing a former member of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics organizing committee.
Prosecutors and the Japan Fair Trade Commission raided Dentsu in late November in connection to the ongoing scandal.
Police arrested ADK Holdings' president Shinichi Ueno in October 2022 on suspicion of bribing Takahashi with 47 million yen (about US$313,500) to select ADK as a marketing agent for the Olympics. Police raided the corporate headquarters of ADK Holdings on the same day.
Japanese prosecutors also searched the offices of Hakuhodo Inc. in November on suspicion of rigging bids for Tokyo Olympics test events.
Dentsu, Hakuhodo, and ADK Holdings are three of the major advertising agencies in Japan.
There were allegedly 26 rigged open bids from May-August 2018 for the rights to plan 56 test events, with the contracts totaling over 500 million yen (about US$3.6 million). Nine companies, including six that have been searched, won the bids. The total value of the contracts signed related to test and actual events is over 20 billion yen (about US$144 million). Investigators are looking into possible collusion between the companies to decide in advance which companies would win bids.
Police have arrested Takahashi four times on suspicion of accepting bribes related to Olympic sponsorships from four firms: Aoki Holdings Inc., Sun Arrow, Kadokawa, and Daiko Advertising. Takahashi was also a former senior managing director of Japanese advertising agency and exclusive agent for the Olympics' Japanese sponsors, Dentsu Inc.
Sources: The Mainichi (link 2, link 3)
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
