YOKOHAMA, July 31 (Reuters) - A company run by a former Tokyo Olympic organiser received more than $1 million from Games sponsor AOKI Holdings Inc , on top of payments from the suit retailer being investigated by Tokyo prosecutors, Japanese media said.
AOKI paid about 230 million yen ($1.7 million) to a subsidiary of advertising agency Dentsu in the fall of 2017, which was later transferred to a company run by Haruyuki Takahashi, a former member of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee board, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.
Tens of millions of yen were then transferred to two sports organizations, while Takahashi’s firm kept the remaining 150 million yen, the newspaper said.
The Yomiuri newspaper on Sunday put the initial payment at 250 million yen ($1.9 million).
Takahashi and AOKI’s former chairman, Hironori Aoki, said there was nothing illegal about the money, the Nikkei reported. It quoted a source as saying Takahashi told prosecutors the money was paid as remuneration for consulting work he had been doing since 2009 and not something he had received as organizing committee director.