crime

French prosecutors probe $2 million tied to 2020 Tokyo Games

48 Comments
By JOHN LEICESTER and STEPHEN WILSON

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48 Comments
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Hmmm! Doesn't look good. But what does “has no means of knowing these allegations" mean?

13 ( +14 / -1 )

Ok, just just who is going to be forced into falling on their sword and take one for the country? With any hope it will be Mori!

9 ( +10 / -1 )

I'm actually suprised this story is being so widely reported in Japan. What's going on?

10 ( +13 / -3 )

There are so many stories nowadays that put Japan in a very corrupt light. Not good.

15 ( +17 / -2 )

Hopefully this will bring an end to the Tokyo Olympics Saga which has been mismanaged (understatement) from the very beginning. Tokyo Governor making the presentation resigns due to his personal finance scandal, Olympic stadium bidding and design fiasco, Olympic logo fiasco, top management change in midstream, Fukushima nuclear fiasco coverup and victims not receiving deserved compensation as citizens, Tokyo governor scandal developing and now this 2 million dollar payoff to some honky third world gangster.

As I have been saying to my friends abroad, don't make plans to come to Japan or Brazil for the Olympics. This Game needs to be clipped from the top down and the management needs a big overhaul.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Why is this a surprise? How would people think the host city is elected?

6 ( +10 / -4 )

The transactions were marked “Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game Bid.”

Hmm probably not the best way to fly under the radar. Could have been worse though they could have named their transaction "Tokyo 2020 bribe, 1st instalment'.

16 ( +17 / -1 )

It is just the Olympics. A lot of poeple running around, jumping, etc etc. Big deal. And who knew it could be bought for a mere 2 million dollars. That is chump change.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Hmm probably not the best way to fly under the radar. Could have been worse though they could have named their transaction "Tokyo 2020 bribe, 1st instalment'.

I find it very funny that criminals like to keep their books so clean.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

"Black Tidings"

: As opposed to "Good tidings". Very appropriate.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Corruption and bribery in Japan? That's so hard to believe! NOT!

11 ( +13 / -2 )

Still laughing at this corruption and at Japan.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Have there been this many or any scandals at all at other Olympics in the past? It looks like this Olympics is filled with scandals and briberies or maybe its because I live in the host country?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

You know its REALLY bad when Japan doesn't even want to touch the idea of a private panel being formed to investigate itself.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

to determine the nature of the transactions ... and to verify if acts of corruption and money laundering were committed in the process of designating the host city of the 2020 Olympic Games

And if so then what? I find it interesting that no there has been no mention that Tokyo might lose the 2020 position as host city. They most likely WILL find bribery involved in the bid- but can they really relocate the Olympics with less than 4 years to go?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

It seems the norm for Japan nothing really surprising here at all..

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Can we please just boycott the Olympics?

7 ( +7 / -1 )

Wow - it's one thing to bribe, quite another to do so through a gang-like organization. Think about the two badminton players busted for gambling recently - it wasn't the gambling as much as the ties to the yakuza. I'd guess some people will actually go to jail for this, eventually.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

"Asked whether it would be necessary to re-run the vote if it was proved that Tokyo – which overcame Madrid and Istanbul in 2013 after losing out to Rio de Janeiro four years earlier – paid money to influence votes, Pound said it would be difficult to unpick decisions already made.

“It’s a little bit like Salt Lake. Once you’ve jumped down the hole and you’re two or three years into the process you really can’t go back. There is nobody out there who would be able to put the whole show together in three years,” said the Canadian lawyer, who has been an IOC member since 1978."

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/12/dick-pound-ioc-tokyo-2020-corruption

The whole thing is bent but there's no stopping it now....

4 ( +4 / -0 )

"Have there been this many or any scandals at all at other Olympics in the past?"

Yes, for Nagano in 1998. The Salt Lake City people said they were just copying what the Japanese had already been doing.

9 ( +7 / -0 )

It seems the norm for Japan nothing really surprising here at all..

This is the norm for almost every single international organization that has lots of money but little oversight, from the United Nations to the Olympics to ICAAN and on.

Can we please just boycott the Olympics?

Sure. Just don't watch. I haven't paid attention to them for years. Apart from sometimes being the odd one out in conversation, it has been quite beneficial. More free time, less mental energy wasted on the drama of various athletes, less manipulation by the media.

The problem is that people put all these organizations and the people in them on a pedestal. Just looks at the status involved. But they are all human. Some are scumbags, others are just regular people who enjoy the perks of the job and don't want to rock the boat. To think this stuff starts and ends with Japan is simply naive.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Corruption, bribery, money laundering.... sounds like something a Diack would do.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I believe after Japan forms a committee to look into their own misdeeds it will be discovered that a politician "acting as a private citizen" will be blamed but that since he was "acting as a private citizen" nothing can or will be done. The games will be held. All will be back to normal in November, 2020. Except for the nuclear refugees from Fukushima, of course. Extremely regrettable, eh?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

This type of corruption, spending money to influence votes so Japan wins an honorable bid, is systematic. I have witnessed many similar cases at prefectural level. Nobody cares as long as an honor is brought to Japan. The idea of fairness no longer applies when it is not within the Japanese society. They spend money on foreigners and some other foreign country loses the bid. So what? that kind of thinking. Even Japanese people do not mind because olympics brings honor to Japan. You have all factors needed for systematic corruption and cover up.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Was only a matter of time.

This is what will happen - damning evidence will come to light and the Japan Olympic Committee will use Mori as the fall guy, as he's way beyond retirement age. They will 'vow' to 'crack down' on corruption (& around we go). They will then announce an internal investigation which will amount to nothing - but at least it looks like they're doing something in the media's eyes, right?

Dentsu will secure all advertising rights, Akimoto will use an AKB affiliate in the opening / closing ceremonies & Johnny's members will be the commentators - to name a few of the usual suspects. Old Boys' Club with their snouts in trough. Just another day at Japan Inc!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

So.....when making a bribe (if that is what this was) someone was actually stupid enough to label the transaction "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Bid"?

In light of how competently the rest of the Olympic planning has been going, that actually sounds about right.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Japan's attempt to organize the Olympics, fail staggeringly to get anything right or even decide a stadium or logo without looking stupid, watch the costs fly up, then see the bribery cases unfold is many, many times more entertaining than any Olympic event could ever be. I think we should thank Japan for having made this such a comedy event from the get-go.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Japan’s top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, maintained Tokyo’s bid was clean. He >>said the government has no plans to question the Tokyo Organizing Committee or conduct its own investigation

Damage control "a la japonaise", maintaining bid was clean without doing investigation and with no plan to do it... erasing any doubt in the french prosecutors's mind (should they had any) about who is behind that money.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Putin's probably laughing his ass off at this.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

I was reading: The transactions were marked "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game Bid", then I stopped reading and thought ...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Already before the Brazil World Cup there were rumors circulating that Brazil and Japan were scratching each other's back. Brazil would bring votes to Japan to get the 2020 Olympics if Japan helped Brazil get the World Cup games. Nothing new here. Both are equally as corrupt.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So, what happens if they are found guilty of bribery and grafting to secure the Olympics? Will they be stripped of the entitlement and the Olympics go to the runner up country? Wouldn't that be a fitting punishment?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

^ As Captain Picard says.."Make it so." This is just comedy gold from a comic country.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Kudos to the french prosecutors for widening the bribery probe, hopefully, they will be able to work without any pressure and won't give up, bringing that investigation to a full completion.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Whatever the case this needs to be thoroughly investigated.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

so, who is quitting committee in Japan? Obviously with a generous retirement package...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Before everyone has a hissy fit, please note that NOTHING will happen due to this.

The 2020 games will still be on.

Unless a specific person is named, by the French, no one will resign or face any action.

Business as usual.

2 ( +2 / -1 )

"the committee has no means of knowing these allegations. We believe that the games were awarded to Tokyo because the city presented the best bid.”

No Olympics has ever been awarded to a city merely because it "presented the best bid."

When taxpayer funds can be used to create profits for political cronies, the money will be spent. And when it comes to an event like the Olympics, where billions of dollars can be looted from a country and spread amongst political cronies, there will of course be competition for it. And this competition, being politically-driven, will never be fair, the event will go to the country which can best line the pockets of the committee members.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here."

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I am not surprised really, hardly any election soliciting for votes from a couple of individuals of any one organization must have a certain degree of foul play; my advice is, if the french prosecutors want to investigate the tokyo bid, they might as well investigate the lobbying of the other two loser host cities, Istanbul and Madrid. No matter what happens, the Olympics will still hold in Tokyo, too much is already at stake as it is, too much in the tune of billions of dollars and a plethora of powerful individuals with interest in the games.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

whole world is full of corruption. nothing new. not jumping to conclusion until more proof came out.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

First the logo-design-plagiarism scandal. Then the Olympic stadium design debacle. And now this. I get the feeling that the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is not going to be good. Perhaps it's about time we asked ourselves whether we should conitue to have those games every four years.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

First the logo-design-plagiarism scandal. Then the Olympic stadium design debacle. And now this. I get the feeling that the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is not going to be good. Perhaps it's about time we asked ourselves whether we should conitue to have those games every four years.

Simple solution. Build a permanent venue in Greece and hold the Olympics there. As long as the venue is moved, there will be corruption in the bidding for the Olympics just as there is in other sports.

If the transactions “Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game Bid" were indeed part of a bribe related to getting the Olympics for Tokyo, the significance would not be show that Japan is singularly corrupt but rather singularly naive. Anyone dumb enough to label a bribe so that it could easily be traced is hardly a professional.

If my taxes are going to go to crooks, I want them to go to professional crooks, not amateurs.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

@bullfighter Greece would be an ideal, but there is no way Greece could support such an even even once for decades with the shambles their country is in.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@bullfighter Greece would be an ideal, but there is no way Greece could support such an even even once for decades with the shambles their country is in.

Greece hosted the games in 2004, and they were a money-losing debacle. The games earned a loss of more than $14 billion, and are believed to be the event which triggered the Greek debt crisis.

This loss enriched a great few promoters, committee members, contractors, and politicians, while greatly harming ordinary Greeks. Sensible countries (which are extremely scarce) shun the thought of hosting the games.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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