Tokyo prosecutors rearrested a former Olympics organizing committee executive who now faces more bribery charges, and also brought in an acquaintance of his who works at a consultancy and officials from a major publisher.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, a former executive of the organizing committee for the Tokyo 2020 Games, on Sept. 6 on suspicion of accepting 76 million yen ($540,500) from the Tokyo-based publishing company Kadokawa Corp., a sponsor of the Games.

In addition, the office arrested Kazumasa Fukami, 73, who heads Commons2 Inc., a consultancy based in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, on charges of accepting bribes from Kadokawa.

Prosecutors also detained two Kadokawa officials on bribery charges: Toshiyuki Yoshihara, 64, a former executive managing director, and Kyoji Maniwa, 63, a director.

According to the prosecutors office and other sources, the Kadokawa officials asked Takahashi and Fukami to help Kadokawa get selected to be an Olympic sponsor.

Then the two had Kadokawa pay 76 million yen, through 10 installments, to Commons2 from July 2019 to January 2021, which prosecutors consider to be accepting bribes.

Since the statute of limitations for a public prosecution on a bribery charge is three years, investigators charged the Kadokawa officials for paying 69 million yen to Commons2 in nine installments in or after September 2019.

According to sources, Takahashi and Fukami used to work at Dentsu Inc., Japan’s largest advertising agency, which was commissioned by the Games’ organizing committee to select sponsors.

Takahashi was senior to Fukami, and they have been close since their days at Dentsu, sources said.

Takahashi approached Dentsu and lobbied for Kadokawa to become a sponsor, sources said.

In April 2019, the organizing committee selected Kadokawa as an “official supporter,” one of the Games’ major sponsorship deals, and approved it to publish officially licensed Games material.

Immediately after the organizer selected Kadokawa to be a sponsor, Kadokawa signed a consultancy deal with Commons2.

Investigators have identified all the money wired to the consultancy company as bribes to Takahashi.

The prosecutors office on Sept. 6 raided the home of Fukami, the headquarters of Kadokawa and the homes of its officials, such as Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, its chairman, and Masaki Matsubara, the vice chairman.

After the news broke that Kadokawa provided money to Takahashi, the publisher’s chairman, Kadokawa, 78, spoke to reporters on Sept. 5.

“I am confused because this is totally unexpected,” Kadokawa said about the scandal.

“I thought our company’s case was different from Aoki’s case,” he said, referring to the apparel maker embroiled in the controversy.

After the prosecutors office raided Aoki Holdings Inc. in July, the publishing company conducted an internal investigation, Kadokawa said.

Its report from the investigation said Kadokawa’s consulting deal “was checked by lawyers at the time and had no problem.”

“I am trusting my employees,” Kadokawa told reporters.

But within 24 hours from the news conference, Yoshihara and Maniwa were arrested and investigators searched Kadokawa’s home.

After the company became a sponsor of the Games, it started selling many officially licensed Olympic-related publications, including the Games’ official program, guide books featuring sports events, as well as an expensive book titled “Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Official Records.”

Maniwa was a director of the division in charge of the company’s Olympic-related businesses.

Yoshihara was an executive managing director and held jurisdiction over that division. He currently serves as a corporate adviser for the company.

Fukami, who runs the beneficiary consultancy company, used to head a department of Dentsu that deals with publishing companies.

Maniwa knew Fukami from his Dentsu days. He and others approached Fukami and told him that Kadokawa wanted to become an Olympic sponsor.

A person related to Kadokawa said, “I wonder why the company paid such large amounts of money to (Fukami’s company). It doesn't make sense and it looks fishy.”

The prosecutors office on Sept. 6 also indicted Takahashi on charges of accepting bribes from Aoki.

Three top Aoki officials, including Hironori Aoki, 83, the former chairman of the company, were indicted for bribery.

Prosecutors raided Daiko Advertising Inc.’s headquarters in Osaka and Tokyo on Sept. 5 and confiscated documents and materials.

Investigators believe the agency asked Takahashi to be selected as a “sales cooperation agency” by the Games’ organizing committee and in return paid 14 million yen to Commons2.