Officials who led Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics "have been cleared of any illegal activity by a Japanese investigation," following revelations that the city had paid more than $2M to a company linked to the son of the disgraced former IAAF President Lamine Diack, according to Justin McCurry of the London GUARDIAN. A report published on Thursday by an independent panel appointed by the Japanese Olympic Committee said the $2.3M payment to Black Tidings, a Singapore-based consultancy, "was legitimate and had been made in return for consulting services." French authorities "were investigating suspicious payments to Black Tidings, whose president, Ian Tan Tong Han, is a close friend of Papa Massata Diack." The 50-page English version of the JOC report said there was no evidence that the consultancy arrangement between the Tokyo 2020 bid committee and Tan was "illegal or invalid under the civil laws or criminal laws of Japan, and there is no doubt that it is lawful" (GUARDIAN, 9/1). The AFP reported Japanese officials "have consistently denied wrongdoing and have said that the payment was for consulting services." Yoshihisa Hayakawa, the lawyer who led the investigation, said, "What was most important for the team was to probe whether the bid committee in fact bribed someone. We think the investigation cleared the group of any suspicion in this regard."
But Hayakawa "stressed the probe's limitations and its inability to interview key people -- such as the Diacks and the head of the now defunct consulting company" (AFP, 9/1).
