The head of Japan’s Olympic Committee has been indicted in Paris for “active corruption” in connection with the awarding of the 2020 Tokyo Games, a judicial source said Friday.
Tsunekazu Takeda was indicted on December 10 by investigative judges looking into a suspect payment of €2 million (Rs 16.25 crore) made before the Japanese capital was chosen to host the Olympics.
Tokyo beat Madrid and Istanbul in the vote in 2013.
Last month, IOC president Thomas Bach formally requested that Senegal cooperate with French judicial authorities investigating corruption at the heart of international athletics.
In a letter seen by AFP sent to the Senegalese President Macky Sall on November 16, Bach said that investigating magistrate, Renaud van Ruymbeke, “told us of the difficulties he has come up against in the execution of the two investigation letters addressed to the Minister of Justice of Senegal”.
Papa Massa Diack, the son of the former IAAF president Lamine Diack and himself a powerful marketing advisor to the federation, is suspected of having received several million euros of bribes, either for sponsorship contracts or to favour the Rio and Tokyo nominations for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.
Massa Diack has been on Interpol’s most wanted list since December 2015 but the Senegalese government refuses to extradite him to France.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!