crime

Prosecutors arrest ex-member of Tokyo Olympic committee, others for bribery

28 Comments
By URI KAGEYAMA

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28 Comments
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And the trainwreck that was Tokyo 2021 (worst Olympics ever) goes on...

25 ( +29 / -4 )

Big money, so lets see some serious jail time.

23 ( +25 / -2 )

These Tokyo games have been the death knell for the Olympics from the scandals regarding the awarding of the Olympics to Tokyo, the scandals regarding the New Olympic stadium (dropping the original design and overworking laborers), copyright violation of the original logo, moving the venues away from Tokyo (when the original bid promised that all events would be within 10km of the Olympic village). The list goes on and on and on.

So Paris hosts the next Olympics because of the bribery that brought the 2020 games to Tokyo. Los Angeles gets the games after that because of the Paris retribution.

The games are a joke now.

15 ( +19 / -4 )

I find the name Dentsu and his (former) position with that firm to be completely unsurprising in a story about graft.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Is anyone shocked or surprised by this news.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Prosecutors arrest ex-member of Tokyo Olympic committee, others for bribery

Prior to a deep bow, some fake tears and a suspended sentence being the only retribution. That money is staying in the deep pockets of the criminal elite and the LDP facilitators.

Not one single yen is ever coming back to the taxpayers, either by recovering this slush fund or in the shape of the shiny new revitalised economy they promised us when they were stuffing their swag bags with the loot.

7 ( +15 / -8 )

IncandescentwithrageToday  05:07 pm JST

Well done. Dragging Japan’s reputation even lower.

No, digging up and exposing and prosecuting this kind of corruption raises Japan's reputation.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

Dig deeper, there's plenty of corruption to be found, the Olympics are renowned for it.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

I'm somewhat relieved to see that the justice system is still functioning to an extent.

Such greedy and power-obsessive behavior is a slap in face of every other people involved and taxpayers.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Uh oh. Really wanna believe it isnt one of those "take the fall guy" Dave Copperfeeld routines.

Arrest ed? Pretty big show. Must be some pitchfork sharpening sounds and torch smoke burnin in the background somewheres… Might be someone figures its a good time to put a little heat on the suit recriuit. Like throwing some chicken feed to shut all the angry tax payers up. Make it Big news too. Lots of cameras and news distractions. THen in 6 mos, a year whtever, judge goes softball, prosecuter lets up, heats goes back off again, suit recruit fades into all expense paid retirement.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Im happy to hear it. Many times these types of crimes are hush hush and more bribes are given. But in this case, things look good.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I may be wrong, but theres a saying in my country that means if someone from high standing people whose wrongdoings would never be even mentioned in a billion years gets prosecuted or arrested it means this person got into quarrel with another very high standing person or owes sth to other big people... so, that could be the case as well. Why a prosecutor would even bother to arrest someone who will get out of the trouble in any case and then get oneself demoted to some secluded place as a reward?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

While I do love the Olympics, obviously it would be great if they could get ahold of their scandals. LA '84 was mostly graft-free; problems began later, with what to do with the profits (yes - PROFITS!).

LA clearly has a housing crisis: minimal buildable area, restrictions on areas that are buildable, its climate being an attraction to homeless from other regions.... Still, I look forward to LA 2028. Most all of the facilities are already built, including the athlete village, which will use vacant university dormitory space. And I hope dearly that the Games will serve as a catalyst for LA to deal with its homeless problem.

Good read: https://www.thedailybeast.com/behind-los-angeles-bitter-war-to-abolish-the-olympics-for-good

4 ( +7 / -3 )

@ Laguna;

The '84 Olympics went to Los Angeles because they were supposed to be held in Teheran, but the revolution in Iraq made that impossible. The only other city in the world who could hold the games with less than two years notice was L.A.

Multiple professional sports venues, UCLA and USC dorms for athletes and medical centers.

There was no other choice.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

""Japanese media reports said Takahashi denied wrongdoing, stressing he was paid for consulting services.""

And yes he was, the Q? does that payment constitute a Bribery?

I am sure the Prosecutors have already got the answer.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Sports doesn't need Olympics anymore. That was relevant in ancient Greece. All the politics involved from 19th century till now (boycotts, lobbying, power games, bribery, stimulants, you name it!) are not in the name of sports. What we see now is money making Olympics with some very high results! I refuse to support it. Even didn't watch it last year!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Good god no, I can’t believe the Olympics or anyone associated with that renownedly honest and cheating free endeavour could possibly be involved with corruption

1 ( +1 / -0 )

*… good news (not surprising, though); this Takahashi guy has guilty written all over his (criminal looking) *face… (heheh)

(but!) I suspect that he’ll never see the inside of a jail cell (I hope I’m wrong);

“ A former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee board member and three people from a clothing company that was a surprise sponsor of the 2020 Games were arrested on bribery suspicions Wednesday. Haruyuki Takahashi, a former executive at advertising company Dentsu, is suspected of receiving bribes from the former head of Aoki Holdings Inc. and two company employees, the prosecutors' office said. “

*.. *key*** word **here being “former”; (a lot more needs to be done) …*

..

..

“ The company that makes affordable business suits was a surprise pick to dress the Japanese Olympic team, when other nations had top fashion brands designing athletes' outfits. Takahashi is credited with landing $3 billion in local sponsorships for the Tokyo Games. “

jeez .. sighs

( _

0 ( +8 / -8 )

He should have seen the handcuffs coming, especially when they wanted the games to go on at all cost!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Aren't Sports supposed to be non-political?  Why are govts funding Olympics with taxpayer money?  Why are teams, which shouldn't be aligned with national govts, getting sanctioned (removing the offending players is fine) in some cases, and celebrated in others, depending on popular opinion and reputation of the nations?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hard to proove corruption if the money was to pay for consultation fees from a different business, is there any rule about doing business is a crime? Eat that.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Most likely a slap on the wrist (charged with suspended jail-time), gets to keep all dough (money) as long as he doesn't snitch on the others.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Who cares when a few lower ranks are sacrificed to keep the rest of the big money machinery unharmed and running on and on. Let them just go, they are of no significant importance to the whole case covered and still under the carpet.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

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