SNA (Tokyo) — Well over a year since its closing ceremony, the Tokyo Olympics continue to find a place among Japan’s newspaper headlines, this time in connection with a widening bribery scandal which has touched even a former prime minister.

Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who led the Tokyo Games organizing committee before he was forced to step down for making sexist remarks, has been questioned by prosecutors in connection with his former organizing committee colleague Haruyuki Takahashi, a high-level advertising executive who lay at the heart of the bribery intrigue.

Takahashi is accused of accepting bribes from at least two companies in return for helping them be selected as official sponsors of the Games. His arrest on August 17 catapulted the scandal in the headlines.

The two major companies so far implicated are Aoki Holdings, a business suit retailer, and Kadokawa Corporation, a major publishing company. As official sponsors, Aoki Holdings provided all of the uniforms for Japanese athletes during the opening ceremony and Kadokawa published the Games’ official guidebooks and records.

Also on August 17, three top executives of Aoki Holdings, including former Chairman Hironori Aoki, were arrested. Aoki is suspected of having paid around ¥51 million (US$355,000) to Takahashi, describing it as a consultancy fee.

Kadokawa’s turn came on September 6,  when two senior executives were arrested, while at the same time the company headquarters and the Tokyo home of Chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa were raided by prosecutors. They are suspected of having funneled money through the consulting firm Commons 2, run by Takahashi’s friend Kazumasa Fukami, in return for being selected as an official Olympic sponsor.

Kadokawa Corporation executives have denied the bribery allegations, describing the payment as a consulting fee for Fukami and contending that all financial transactions were for legitimate purposes.

As a former senior managing director at Dentsu–the advertising agency which dominates this industry in Japan–prosecutors believe that Takahashi was able to wield strong influence over the marketing division of Japan’s Olympic organizing committee. In fact, many Dentsu employees were on loan to the organizing committee, including Fukami.

As for former Prime Minister Mori, prosecutors are trying to clarify why he met with Takahashi and Aoki around July 2017, over a year before Aoki Holdings became an official Olympic sponsor. While it is not clear whether or not the 85-year-old former prime minister is in personal legal jeopardy, the fact that he has been called in to answer questions from prosecutors is another serious reputational blow for a Japanese leader who is no stranger to controversy.

The scandal threatens to have a wider impact, especially in regard to Sapporo’s bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto and incumbent Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita had a planned visit to Switzerland this month, but it was cancelled by the IOC for unclear reasons, but possibly in connection with the bribery scandal. The Asahi Shinbun quoted an anonymous source as declaring that “the decision to not meet with the Sapporo mayor is a message from the IOC that the city’s chances have become much more difficult.”

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