Photo/Illutration Tsunekazu Takeda, then president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, denies bribery allegations at a news conference in January 2018. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Japanese Olympic Committee has shouldered about 200 million yen ($1.82 million) in legal fees so far for its former president who is under a bribery investigation in France, sources said.

French authorities have accused Tsunekazu Takeda, who served as JOC president until June 2019, of paying bribe money to help Tokyo win the bid to host the 2020 Games.

The expenses incurred in defending Takeda during the three-year period until fiscal 2020 have totaled about 200 million yen, and the entire amount has been paid by the JOC, the sources said.

The JOC will continue to foot the bill in and after fiscal 2021 until the investigation concludes, the sources said.

A source close to the matter said Takeda’s defense is being funded with support money that the JOC received from companies and others. Taxpayer money it received in the form of a central government subsidy is not being used for the fees, the source said.

The JOC, which has concluded that Takeda’s actions were “not illegal,” passed a resolution at a board meeting in March 2019 to bear the costs of his defense.

At that time, Takeda announced he would step down from the president’s post.

French authorities suspect that 230 million yen that the Tokyo Games bid committee paid to Black Tidings Co., a consulting company in Singapore, was used to bribe voting members of the International Olympic Committee to select Tokyo as the host city of the Olympics.

As chairman of the bid committee, Takeda signed a contract with Black Tidings.

A joint team of Japanese and French lawyers has worked to defend Takeda.

The legal expenses, including translation fees, reached about 60 million yen in fiscal 2018, when French authorities started the full-fledged investigation, according to the sources.

The figure jumped to about 100 million yen in fiscal 2019 and ran to about 40 million yen in fiscal 2020.

The JOC has shouldered the legal fees because “Takeda assumed the chair of the bid committee under approval of the JOC.”

“Each country’s Olympic committee is responsible for the activities of the bid committee, according to the Olympic Chapter,” a source said.

Takeda through his lawyer told The Asahi Shimbun that he assumed the bid committee chairman’s post because he was the JOC president.

“There was no self-interest nor personal motivation at all,” Takeda said.

He also thanked JOC board members, including the current president, Yasuhiro Yamashita, for their understanding.

“I want to respond to their confidence in me by clearing my name,” Takeda said.

Related News