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Reuters
TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors on Wednesday arrested Haruyuki Takahashi, a former member of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee, on suspicion of accepting bribes, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office said.
Mr. Takahashi was not immediately asked for comment and did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that it was suspected of receiving bribes worth hundreds of billions of yen from Aoki Holdings.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, Former chairman of Aoki Holdings, Hironori Aoki, and two other executives with ties to the company were also arrested.
Reuters was unable to contact Aoki for comment. Aoki Holdings said it was confirming the details and did not provide details when asked for comment.
The media previously reported that his ¥45 million ($325,544) payments to the company run by Mr. Takahashi between 2017 and 2021 were not paid by public officials. It said it was investigating whether it violated a law prohibiting the receipt of their position.
As part of the investigation, prosecutors conducted a series of home searches in late July, including Takahashi's home and the offices of advertising giant Dentsu Group.
Takahashi is a former director of Dentsu Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dentsu Group.
A Dentsu spokesperson said the company had no comment so far. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Rocky Swift, Sakura Murakami; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Robert Barthel)
