Charges are piling up in Japan in the Tokyo 2020 Games corruption scandal. A new arrest warrant, the third, was issued on Tuesday September 27 against Haruyuki Takahashi (photo above), the former boss of the Dentsu group and member of the board of directors of Tokyo 2020. This time, the facts do not directly concern one of the national sponsors of the Games, but an advertising agency involved in the selection of private partners. According to sources close to the investigation, Haruyuki Takahashi and one of his acquaintances are suspected of having received 15 million yen ($104.000) in bribes from Daiko Advertising, an agency based in Osaka. In exchange for this sum, the two men allegedly used their influence to have the advertising agency serve as an intermediary for the signing of a partnership contract between Tokyo 2020 and a Japanese company specializing in learning English. , which became a partner of the Games in September 2018. The police also arrested the boss of the Daiko agency, Yoshikazu Taniguchi, on Tuesday September 27. His home was searched. Haruyuki Takahashi had already been charged twice, since the start of the investigation, for suspicion of corruption involving two partners of the Tokyo Games: the men's clothing brand Aoki and the publishing house Kadokawa. According to other sources close to the investigation, Haruyuki Takahashi continues to deny all allegations, including the latest one involving Daiko. Prosecutors are also investigating whether he pressured the organizing committee to select plush maker Sun Arrow as a partner. This Japanese company, which already manufactured the plush mascots for the Nagano Winter Games in 1998, would have paid around 8 million yen to Haruyuki Takahashi.
