TOKYO, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) — The head workplace of Japanese promoting agency Dentsu Inc. was raided on Friday by Tokyo prosecutors and Japan’s Fair Trade Commission over doable bid rigging related to the Tokyo Olympic Games held final yr.
Along with the promoting large, the residence of a senior official on the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee was additionally searched, and Cerespo Co., an occasion manufacturing firm, has additionally been implicated.
The raids are the newest in a string of scandals related to the Games, with the newest searches by authorities carried out on suspicion of unfair restraint of commerce.
They suspect the awarding of contracts in open bids held for the rights to rearrange 26 take a look at occasions was rigged. The contracts had been “won” by Dentsu, eight firms and a consortium.
Informed sources stated the overall worth of the contracts was value greater than 500 million yen (3.6 million U.S. {dollars}), with particular person contracts valued between 4 million yen (28,800 U.S. {dollars}) and 60 million yen (433,000 U.S. {dollars}).
The newest search follows one other promoting company ADK Holdings Inc. telling the Japan Fair Trade Commission it had been a participant within the bid rigging, with the company hoping its admission would imply a lesser punishment from authorities.
With the Tokyo Games held a yr late as a result of international coronavirus pandemic, continued revelations of a string of scandals related to one of many world’s largest sporting occasions has tarnished the picture of the host metropolis and the companies and people probably concerned.
This has been punctuated by yet one more investigation launched not too long ago right into a scandal associated to allegations of bribes.