Photo/Illutration A scene from the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Shinichi Ueno, a former president of advertising agency ADK Holdings Inc., admitted to Olympic-related bribery charges during the first hearing of his trial at the Tokyo District Court on Feb. 17.

Ueno, 69, is accused of bribing a Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive to secure a deal to handle contracts of Tokyo Olympic Games’ sponsorships.

He told the court the allegations “are true.”

According to the indictment, Ueno colluded in the bribery scheme with two subordinates at ADK--a former managing director and former manager of the company’s department in charge of the Olympic-related issues.

Between April 2014 and March 2018, Ueno asked Haruyuki Takahashi, then an executive of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, to help ADK be selected as one of Dentsu Inc.’s “sales cooperation agencies.”

That designation would allow ADK to win a deal to handle corporate sponsorship contracts for the Games.

Ueno then paid a total of 14.85 million yen ($110,000) to a consulting company called Commons, which was run by Takahashi, from November 2019 to January 2022, according to the indictment.

Takahashi, 78, has been indicted on charges of receiving bribes in exchange for giving special treatment to companies seeking official Olympic sponsorships and rights to sell licensed products related to the Summer Games.

He is a former senior managing director at Dentsu, the advertising giant that dominated Olympic-related business.

Dentsu outsourced some of its tasks for the Olympics to other advertising agencies that were designated as “sales cooperation agencies” with the approval of the organizing committee.

Ueno was arrested in October, and he initially denied any wrongdoing.

However, he changed his stance after his bail request was rejected in January.

A total of 15 people have been indicted in a series of bribery scandals related to the pandemic-delayed Summer Olympics held in the capital in 2021.

Ueno’s case is the second to be heard in court.

In the first case at the Tokyo District Court in December, three former executives of Aoki Holdings Inc., a men’s apparel company, pleaded guilty to bribing Takahashi.

Takahashi has denied all allegations against him. It is unclear when his trial will start.

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