Berlin, Feb 28, (dpa/GNA) – Japanese advertising giant, Dentsu, were indicted on Tuesday over alleged bid-rigging for contracts, related to test events for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the Kyodo news agency reported.
Dentsu was the exclusive marketing agency for the Tokyo Games, and its headquarters was a target of a raid in November last year.
Haruyuki Takahashi, a former executive of the organizing committee, who was previously a senior managing director at Dentsu, is in custody on suspicion of corruption, while Dentsu president Hiroshi Igarashi, has admitted to prosecutors that the company was involved in illegal bid-rigging for the Games, Kyodo reported.
Yasuo Mori, former operations executive on the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, Dentsu’s rival Hakuhodo Inc, among others, were also indicted, according to the report.
Prosecutors are investigating a number of companies, in connection with the widening scandal.
According to Japanese media reports, around two dozen open tenders for the rights to plan 56 test events were allegedly manipulated in 2018.
GNA