Tokyo Olympics Consulting Agency Paid $370,000 To IOC Official’s Son: Report | Different Sports activities Information

A consulting agency employed by Tokyo’s Olympic bid committee paid some $370,000 to the son of an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member earlier than and after Japan was picked to host the Video games, studies stated Monday. The claims come as French authorities probe an alleged vote-buying scandal, centring round $2 million paid by the Tokyo bid committee to Black Tidings, a Singapore-based agency linked to Senegalese nationwide Papa Massata Diack.

Diack is the son of the previous head of the Worldwide Affiliation of Athletics Federations, (IAAF) — now renamed World Athletics — Lamine Diack.

Lamine Diack was additionally a member of the IOC and stated to have affect over African votes on the time of the Tokyo bid in September 2013 to host the 2020 Video games, Japan’s Kyodo Information stated.

In response to Kyodo, the now-defunct Black Tidings had transferred greater than $150,000 to the private account of Papa Massata Diack and wired $217,000 to an organization run by him by January 2014.

The findings, based mostly on monetary paperwork and reporting by the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists, together with Kyodo, might make clear allegations that the Tokyo bid committee engaged in vote-buying, the information company stated.

In an interview with Kyodo, Papa Massata denied the allegations, saying the cash he acquired was associated to a “sponsorship deal made in China. There may be nothing to do with the Tokyo Olympics.”

Tsunekazu Takeda, former head of the Tokyo bid committee, has additionally denied any wrongdoing. Final yr Takeda stepped down from the pinnacle of Japan’s Olympic Committee following the French investigation.

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Final week Lamine Diack — who led the IAAF for 16 years — was discovered responsible by a French courtroom of corruption in protecting up Russian doping circumstances and sentenced to 4 years in jail, two of which had been suspended.

The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics had been postponed for one yr as a result of coronavirus pandemic.