Loading

Search

:

Ad Agency Hakuhodo, Others Raided As Olympic Bid-Rigging Investigation Widens

  • Category:Other
Japanese prosecutors and a fair trade watchdog on Monday searched offices including the headquarters of major advertising agency Hakuhodo Inc on suspicion of rigging bids for contracts related to test events for last year's Tokyo Olympics, just days after raiding another ad giant over the case.

The latest searches, also covering Tokyu Agency Inc and two event production companies, were conducted as investigations related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have expanded from a scandal involving the alleged receipt by a former games organizing committee executive, Haruyuki Takahashi, of 200 million yen in bribes from five companies.

On Friday, the prosecutors and the Japan Fair Trade Commission raided Japan's top advertising agency Dentsu Inc, and premises linked to a former senior official of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee and event production company Cerespo Co, after the country's third largest advertising agency, ADK Holdings Inc, reported to the watchdog that it had participated in bid rigging.

The search of Hakuhodo, which ranks second after Dentsu, means Japan's top three advertising agencies are now subject to investigation. The two event producers searched on the same day are Same Two Inc and Fuji Creative Corp, both based in Tokyo.

It is alleged that 26 open bids held in 2018 for the rights to plan 56 test events were rigged, with the amount of the contracts totaling more than 500 million yen. They were awarded to nine companies, including the six searched, as well as a consortium.

"We will fully comply with the investigations," a Hakuhodo spokesperson said.

The company won two bids for roughly 40 million yen while Tokyu Agency won three for about 65 million. Same Two won two for some 65 million, and Fuji Creative won two for about 40 million, according to sources close to the matter.

Fuji Creative, under the consortium with Cerespo, also won another bid for 13 million yen, they said.

Prior arrangements are said to have included organizing committee members asking companies whether they were interested in taking part in the bidding, according to the sources.

The organizing committee had created a list of advertising agencies and event firms and categorized them into groups according to their respective experience in each sport. The list is suspected to have been used in arranging the successful bidders.

In about half of the 26 cases, only one company made a bid, the sources said.



© KYODO
 
 
 

Comment(s) Write comment

Trackback (You need to login.)