A corruption fallout has hit Japan after the country’s advertising giant Dentsu Group and five other companies were indicted over allegedly rigging the bids of contracts for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The development comes after Japan’s anti-corruption regulators filed criminal complaints against the firms and seven individuals whose names have not been revealed.
The revelation has come after months of investigations into alleged corruption in the planning and sponsorship of Olympics and Paralympics events in 2021.
Tokyo-based Dentsu is Japan’s biggest advertising agency. The company clarified in a statement that it “takes the situation seriously and offers its sincere apologies to its business partners, shareholders, and all other relevant parties for any inconvenience or concern this may cause.”
The company added that a former employee of the group, who now works for one of its subsidiaries, had been indicted “for an alleged violation of the Antimonopoly Act in connection to the bidding for the test events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
One of the six indicted firms, Hakuhodo DY Holdings, said an employee of its subsidiary, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners had been “indicted by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office based on charges brought by the commission.”
“We also take this situation very seriously. The entire Hakuhodo DY group is committed to thorough compliance and to regaining the trust of society,” it clarified.
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The clarifications came after the Japan Fair Trade Commission (FTC) filed complaints against Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Holdings and four other advertising agencies.
“We determined that this is a malicious and serious case that will have a broad impact on people’s lives,” Goh Okumura, an investigator at the FTC, was quoted as saying by BBC.
Last year, Haruyuki Takahashi, an ex-member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee and a former executive at Dentsu, was arrested on suspicion of receiving bribes from Olympic sponsors to the tones of $380,000.
Tokyo was awarded the Olympic Games in 2013. It beat Madrid and Istanbul for the quadrennial sports spectacle.
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