Photo/Illutration Official licensed products of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games produced by Aoki Holdings Inc. (From a website of Aoki Holdings Inc.)

Authorities are investigating a former board member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee over suspicions of bribery, according to sources.

The case concerns a consultancy firm in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward that is headed by Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, and a consultancy contract he signed with Aoki Holdings Inc., a men’s apparel company based in Yokohama, an Olympic sponsor, in fall 2017.

Under the contract, Takahashi’s firm received a monthly base rate of 1 million yen ($7,230) for about four years until the Games wound up in summer 2021, for a grand total of around 45 million yen, the sources said.

In 2018, after the contract kicked in, Aoki was named an “official supporter” of the Tokyo Games, allowing it to sell Tokyo 2020 official licensed products targeting the general public, such as business suits featuring the official Olympic emblem.

Aoki also produced uniforms for staff who were on duty at the Games.

Under the organizing committee’s rules, board members and the other officials are deemed to be public servants and not permitted to accept cash or gifts as that could constitute bribery under criminal law.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has grasped the flow of money and said it warrants further investigation on the issue of intent, given that the total sum, 45 million yen, is considerable.

Prosecutors have already questioned senior officials of Aoki on a voluntary basis.

Hironori Aoki, 83, the founder and former chairman of the apparel maker, admitted to prosecutors that funds were channeled to Takahashi's firm on a continuous basis, the sources said.

Prosecutors are now seeking more information on the consultancy contract, suspecting the sum of money involved was a reward for the sponsorship deal of Olympic business.

Takahashi acknowledged when contacted by The Asahi Shimbun that his firm received money from Aoki.

“I was giving advice to the former chairman Aoki with whom I was friends,” he said. “The consultancy contract had nothing to do with the Games.”

Takahashi went on to assert that he had “never served at the convenience of (Aoki) by receiving money at all.”

With regard to the process of the apparel maker clinching a deal to sell official licensed products, Takahashi said, “I never lobbied (for Aoki) at all, and I told the former chairman, Aoki, ‘I can’t do a thing.’”

The organizing committee for the Tokyo Games was established in January 2014 with 35 board members, including the chairperson.

The board had the power to make decisions on the selection of sponsor companies as well as sales of official licensed products.

Takahashi, a former senior managing director of advertising giant Dentsu Inc., assumed the board position in June that year and remained in the post until last month when the committee was disbanded.

“We do not know individuals’ activities outside of the committee,” the organizing committee said.

Aoki was established in 1958. Its stocks have been listed on the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Its sales volume for the business year ending in March 2022 totaled 154.9 billion yen.

Aoki, the former chairman, retired as chairman in June this year, citing a need to strengthen the company’s governance system, among other reasons.

The apparel maker declined to comment on the matter.

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