Photo/Illutration Investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office before they search the home of Haruyuki Takahashi, a board member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward on July 26 (Yuji Harada)

New allegations have emerged that a board member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee siphoned 230 million yen ($1.74 million) from Aoki Holdings Inc.’s payment for its Olympic sponsorship contract, on top of consulting fees.

It is the latest revelation to come out of an investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office into a suspected bribery case surrounding Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, a senior official with the committee, and Aoki, a business wear company that became an official sponsor of the Games.

Takahashi, 78, has been under suspicion of taking at least 45 million yen from Aoki in bribes paid in consulting fees to secure the company a sponsorship contract and approval for it to sell branded Olympic merchandise.

But the new allegations suggest that in addition to that, Takahashi, a former senior managing director of the advertising behemoth Dentsu Inc., had also taken a cut of 230 million yen from the total 750 million yen Aoki paid in Olympic sponsorship fees.

Those fees were supposed to go to the organizing committee.

The organizing committee had commissioned Dentsu to coordinate the applications from potential sponsors.

Aoki was selected in October 2018 to become a Tokyo 2020 Olympic Official Supporter, the fourth and lowest tier of sponsorship. The sponsorship ranking is based on the amount paid in fees.

Aoki’s fees were set at 750 million yen during negotiations over the selection, according to sources.

Later, it was arranged that Aoki would make an advance payment of 250 million yen of the 750 million yen prior to landing as an official sponsor.

The company paid the 250 million yen to a Dentsu subsidiary in 2017 in two installments.

The Dentsu subsidiary transferred 230 million yen to Commons Co., a Tokyo-based consulting firm headed by Takahashi, after subtracting handling fees.

The remaining 500 million yen Aoki owed in sponsorship fees was sent to the Olympic organizing committee via the Dentsu subsidiary, according to the sources.

Takahashi admitted he received the 230 million yen during voluntary questioning by the investigation squad.

He also told the investigators that of the 230 million yen, he donated around 70 million yen to two sports associations via ADK Holdings Inc., a major advertising agency, the sources said.

Takahashi took the rest of the money as a “reward that had yet to be paid” for his role in securing Aoki a sponsorship contract with a prominent golf tournament over nine years through 2017, the sources said.

But Hironori Aoki, 83, the founder and former chairman of Aoki, told investigators he “had not expected that most of the money would be transferred to Takahashi,” according to the sources.

Investigators have searched the offices of Commons, Aoki, Dentsu, ADK and others in relation to the suspected bribery case.

In 2017, around the time Aoki was trying to secure an Olympic sponsorship contract, Commons signed a contract with an Aoki subsidiary and received at least 45 million yen by the time the Games ended in August 2021, according to the sources.

Board members of the Olympic committee are regarded as public servants and are not allowed to accept cash or gifts related to their duties under criminal law.

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