Prosecutors have interviewed Yoshiro Mori, former chief of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, three times in connection with a bribery scandal involving sponsors for the Games, investigative sources said.

They emphasized that Mori was questioned as an unsworn witness and not as a suspect by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

Mori, 85, a former prime minister, on Sept. 7 declined to comment on the interviews, saying he did not want to “disrupt the investigation.”

The three interviews took place at a hotel in Tokyo from mid-August to early September, the sources said.

Mori was president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games when the alleged bribery took place.

Investigators asked Mori about the committee’s decision-making process, the authority given to high-level posts, as well as how Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, was appointed as an executive board member of the committee.

Takahashi has been arrested on suspicion of receiving about 51 million yen ($355,000) in bribes from Aoki Holdings Inc., a men’s apparel company that was named an Olympic sponsor.

Takahashi is also believed to have accepted 76 million yen from Kadokawa Corp., a Tokyo-based publisher, in return for help in gaining Olympic sponsorship deals for the company.

It turns out that Mori was with Takahashi during separate meetings with the former head of Aoki and the Kadokawa chairman.

Mori told investigators in the interviews, “I have dined with Aoki and others several times on referral from Takahashi.”

But he denied playing any part in selecting the companies as Olympic sponsors.

AOKI ROUTE

At a steak restaurant that he runs in Tokyo, Takahashi met Hironori Aoki, the 83-year-old former chairman of Aoki, in January 2017.

Takahashi suggested that the apparel company become an Olympic sponsor, and Aoki expressed interest in the idea, the sources said.

Aoki believed the company had been informally appointed as a sponsor by Takahashi. But a sponsorship deal was not signed, so the company around May that year made an inquiry to Dentsu Inc., the nation’s largest advertising agency, which was in charge of obtaining sponsorships for the Summer Games.

Takahashi then called the apparel maker and set up a dinner meeting with Mori. It was held in July that year at Takahashi’s steak restaurant.

After Takahashi introduced Aoki to Mori at the meeting, the former prime minister said, “I get Aoki confused with Aoyama,” referring to a rival men’s apparel company.

At the end of the dinner, Aoki said, “Onegaishimasu” (thank you in advance).

Takahashi said, “We will have a long-term relationship.”

Mori added, “I think (the sponsorship deal) will be decided by around autumn (2019) when the Rugby World Cup is over.”

Aoki apparently took Mori’s statement as formal approval for the company to become an Olympic sponsor.

Investigative sources quoted a top Aoki official who was at the dinner meeting as saying, “We thought we had cleared the condition, which was (approval from) Mr. Mori.”

Investigators are investigating whether Takahashi provided Aoki with  convenience by setting up the meeting with Mori.

The company made a recording of the exchanges at the dinner meeting. Prosecutors seized the recording when they searched the company in the bribery investigation.

Aoki himself has been indicted on a bribery charge.

Mori on Aug. 9 told The Asahi Shimbun that he had met with Aoki but denied providing any favors.

“Committee presidents do not have that authority,” Mori said.

He has also told investigators that Aoki never asked him to select the company as an Olympic sponsor, the sources said.

But on Aug. 24, Mori, through his lawyer, declined to comment on the meaning of the statement he made at the dinner meeting, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.

KADOKAWA ROUTE

Takahashi also arranged a dinner meeting for Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, 79, chairman of Kadokawa, with Mori before the publisher signed a sponsorship deal with the Olympics organizing committee.

Takahashi initially wanted to pair Kadokawa with another publishing company and make the two a joint Olympic sponsor.

An official of the other publisher attended the dinner meeting, but the company later backed out of the sponsorship plan.

Investigators asked Mori if Takahashi was granted the authority to decide on sponsors for the Games, the sources said.

The president and executive board members of the Games’ organizing committee were deemed civil servants and were banned from accepting cash or gifts related to their positions.

Mori became the chairman of the organizing committee in 2014, but resigned in 2021 after his sexist remarks were widely reported.