Photo/Illutration Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, chairman of Kadokawa Corp., takes questions from reporters on Sept. 5 in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. (Pool)

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Sept. 14 arrested Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, 79, chairman of the Tokyo-based publisher Kadokawa Corp., on suspicion he was involved in bribing an official of the Tokyo Games organizing committee.

The company was a major sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics.

It comes after prosecutors on Sept. 6 rearrested Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, a former executive of the organizing committee for the Tokyo 2020 Games on suspicion of accepting bribes from Kadokawa.

They also arrested two Kadokawa officials that day: Toshiyuki Yoshihara, 64, a former executive managing director, and Kyoji Maniwa, 63, a director.

Prosecutors also searched Kadokawa's home the same day.

Yoshihara and Maniwa had asked Takahashi and his long-time acquaintance Kazumasa Fukami, 73, who heads Commons2 Inc., a consultancy based in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, to help Kadokawa get selected to be an Olympic sponsor, according to sources.

Then the two deposited a total of 76 million yen ($530,000) in 10 installments to the consultancy’s bank account from July 2019 to January 2021, sources said.

Prosecutors suspect the publisher’s chairman was an accomplice in the bribery case. The prosecutors concluded he was responsible for nine installments made in or after September 2019, which total about 69 million yen.

According to sources, after Kadokawa was selected to become an Olympic sponsor in April 2019, the publisher signed a consulting deal with Commons2 and started making payments.

Tokyo prosecutors believe all the funds wired to the consultancy in consulting fees were actually bribes to Takahashi and others.

But when Kadokawa spoke to reporters on Sept. 5, he denied that the money paid to Takahashi was a reward of any sort.

“I don’t think the money passed into the hands of (Takahashi),” he said.

He added the consulting deal was checked and cleared by the company’s legal department.

He also said the chairman “does not have decision-making authority.”

Kadokawa became the president of the company in 1993. After serving as an executive adviser, he became chairman in 2017.

Takahashi was arrested and indicted on suspicion of accepting 51 million yen from the men’s apparel maker Aoki Holdings Inc. for allegedly asking Takahashi to ensure the company was selected for Olympic sponsorship so it could sell officially licensed goods.

Three top Aoki officials, including Hironori Aoki, 83, former chairman of the apparel maker, were arrested and indicted for bribery.

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