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© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Ex-Tokyo Olympics official pleads not guilty to taking bribes in exchange for Games contracts
By STEPHEN WADE and YURI KAGEYAMA TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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Moonraker
Which means a conviction is recorded for the prosecutors but nobody goes to jail. A performance win-win all round, with the judges getting to pretend they are authoritative too.
Looks like Takahashi is gonna tough it out with his not guilty plea, rather than express - though no feel - remorse, which is interesting. Is there something else going on here?
dagon
Will he get the de riguer suspended sentence?
Or has he lost some social cache and must be made the scapegoat for the whole mess?
Tune in soon
Stefan
How do you hide 198 million in cash? Tatami?
kurisupisu
Doesn’t Japan have a 99% conviction rate?
Takahashi is guilty then
What will be the sentence?
Capuchin
Sounds like he's saying "This is how we do things around here."
Bribery and corruption are inherently part of how these people operate.
Ricky Kaminski13
Now that’s a face you can trust! Never taken a. Rube in my life mate! Promisuuuu!
HBJ
Yeah, but that missing 1% is largely reserved for the 1%, i.e. people worthy of being bribed to the tune of gazillions.
Aly Rustom
The suspended one. As usual.
Gobshite
Salary bonus in his next job
Chico3
He's guilty. Take your punishment.
Sanjinosebleed
And how did Mori plea??? Oh wait that's right he was never investigated even though he admitted to taking a few mill here and there...
aaronagstring
Bit slow aren’t they? Would’ve thought the’d have given him a suspended sentence by now. Come on! Cut to the chase! /s
Ask Trade
Precisely sums up the entire Olympic process. Corrupt.
opheliajadefeldt
Yeewwwwwww!! was this the best photo of him you could find. Judging by that face it says .....up yours, I will do what I like, take bribes.......and get away with it.........and he will.
masterblaster
I'm not one to judge a book by the cover, but ...
in this picture he looks exactly like the person who would take a bribe.
shogun36
Yeah, that pic of him really defines "on the take" as far as I'm concerned.
Does any other pic of this guy exist?
You know, one where it DOESN'T look like he would slit his grandmother's throat for a ten yen coin?
One that doesn't haunt the living hell out of even the most cruelest of souls?
I'd like to see the video of him pleading not guilty.
starpunk
The Tokyo Olympics for 2020 were cancelled for a reason. Holding them the following year was a mistake. It caused great hardships, got many people sick from Covid, created even more stress for medics, all this for the prestige. It got Abe to resign in disgrace. Was getting all that yen worth all that? I don't think so.
The pandemic isn't completely over yet.
He's sweating bullets isn't he? His guilt is all over his face.
His actions caused many people to get sick and require medicine, literally. Now he needs to take his figurative 'medicine'.
Sam Watters
Therein lies all of the problems. Certain members of Japan are allowed to use public money for investment and then allowed to keep whatever gains are made and pass on any losses to the public. They are also excerpt from any meaningful consequences.
smithinjapan
Moonraker: "Which means a conviction is recorded for the prosecutors but nobody goes to jail. A performance win-win all round, with the judges getting to pretend they are authoritative too."
I don't know... this guy has done a few things you NEVER do, even for business execs. In particular, he's made it more difficult for them to get/give bribes in future contests. That's a big faux pas.