Japan insisted its successful bid for the 2020 Olympics was “clean” yesterday after a new report alleged clandestine payments surrounding the campaign for the Tokyo Games.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Wednesday reported that French authorities are probing payments totaling about 1.3 million euros (US$1.4 million) made to an account linked to Papa Massata Diack — the son of Lamine Diack, the disgraced former president of world athletics governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The Guardian said that it is “now understood that among transactions under suspicion are payments totaling about 1.3 million euros apparently sent from the Tokyo 2020 bid, or those acting on their behalf” to a secret bank account in Singapore.
The report comes as French authorities confirmed that an enquiry into corruption allegations against the former IAAF head has been expanded to examine bidding for the 2016 Olympics, hosted later this year in Rio de Janeiro, and for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
The enquiry is part of a wider investigation into Lamine Diack, who was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) until 2013, when Tokyo beat fellow bidders Istanbul and Madrid.
“My understanding is that the bid process of the Tokyo 2020 Games was done in a clean way,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.
“Japan will take appropriate measures if the French justice authorities make any request,” but has no intention to question the Tokyo 2020 team based on the report, Suga added.
The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee “has no means of knowing these allegations,” spokeswoman Hikariko Ono said in a statement when asked about the Guardian report. “We believe that the Games were awarded to Tokyo because the city presented the best bid.”
The IOC has insisted there is “no evidence” of any wrongdoing.
Lamine Diack, who headed the IAAF for 15 years, faces criminal charges in France over allegations that he took more than 1 million euros in bribes from Russian athletes and officials to cover up failed drug tests.
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