French financial prosecutors confirmed they are investigating allegations of “corruption and money laundering” involving more than $2M in suspicious payments apparently made by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid to a secret bank account linked to the son of disgraced former IAAF President Lamine Diack, according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. Payments totaling at least $1.5M had apparently been made to the Black Tidings company that was at the center of other allegations of extortion and bribery linked to the IAAF. Now, French prosecutors have confirmed they are investigating payments totaling 2.8M Singapore dollars that were made under the title "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game bid." The French financial prosecutor said that "it was informed about the payments, made from a Japanese bank account to Black Tidings in July and October 2013, in December last year as it investigated allegations against the IAAF" which led to Diack’s arrest and accusations he had received more than €1M in return for covering up failed drug tests. The French prosecutor said that "the discovery of the payments" and their proximity to the IOC decision to award the Games to Tokyo ahead of Madrid and Istanbul, together with "important" findings about parallel purchases made in Paris by Black Tidings, justified the opening of another investigation (GUARDIAN, 5/12).
IOC UNDER PRESSURE: In London, Chassany, Lewis & Ahmed wrote the probe will put pressure on the IOC, "which reformed its bid process after becoming engulfed in a bribery scandal related to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games." Japan’s Olympic organizers, police and central government "dismissed media reports that have questioned the bidding process for the 2020 Tokyo games." The Japanese government’s chief spokesperson Yoshihide Suga said he had “no thought” of Tokyo launching its own investigation into bribery claims surrounding the country’s bid. He said, "It is understood that the bidding for the Olympic Games was done cleanly" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 5/12).
A CLOSER LOOK: The BBC reported the Tokyo bid first came under scrutiny in January when the second part of a World Anti-Doping Agency commission report into corruption "included a footnote detailing a conversation between another of Lamine Diack's sons, Khalil, and Turkish officials heading up the Istanbul bid team." A transcript of the conversation cited in the report suggested a "sponsorship" payment of between $4M and $5M had been made by the Japanese bid team "either to the Diamond League or IAAF." The footnote claims the Istanbul bid "lost Lamine Diack's support because they did not pay" (BBC, 5/12). REUTERS' Miyazaki & Kaneko wrote Hikariko Ono, a spokesperson for Tokyo Organising Committee for 2020, which is different from the bid committee that won the right to host the games, said that "the committee believes Tokyo won because it presented the best bid." Japan Olympic Committee spokesperson Yasuhiro Nakamori agreed. He said, "We have not been asked any questions by the IOC on this matter." JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda "was out of the country until the weekend" (REUTERS, 5/12).
