Japanese Olympic chief indicted in France for corruption
PARIS: The head of Japan’s Olympic Committee has been charged in Paris for ‘active corruption’ in connection with the awarding of the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo, a judicial official told AFP.
Tsunekazu Takeda was indicted on Dec 10 by investigating magistrates looking into a suspect payment of 2.8 million Singapore dollars (US$2.3 million) made before the Japanese capital was chosen to host the Olympics, the source said.
Tokyo beat Madrid and Istanbul in the 2013 vote.
Takeda, a former Olympic showjumper who led the country’s campaign for the Games, said he had cooperated with a French judge looking into the matter, adding: “I was not involved in any wrongdoing such as bribery.”
The 71-year-old, who is a member of the International Olympics Committee (IOC), added that “wrong information that I was indicted has been shared,” and pledged he would “cooperate with investigations to clear up any doubts.”
Takeda was ‘mis en examen’ by the French magistrates, a legal step that has no direct equivalent in the American or British legal systems, but roughly translates as being charged. It does not automatically trigger a trial, but it means that prosecutors believe there is strong or corroborated evidence of wrongdoing.
The French investigation, launched in 2016, relates to two payments made to Singapore-based Black Tidings, a firm linked to Papa Massata Diack, son of the Senegalese former head of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Lamine Diack.