Ex-Kadokawa Chm. Pleads Not Guilty over Bribing Tokyo Games Exec

   Tokyo, Oct. 8 (Jiji Press)--Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, former chairman of Japanese publisher Kadokawa Corp., pleaded not guilty Tuesday over allegations that he bribed a former executive of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee.
   "I don't recall anything, and I'm innocent," Kadokawa, 81, said in the first hearing of his trial at Tokyo District Court.
   Fifteen people have been indicted over the bribery scandal. Suspended guilty sentences have been handed down to 12 people, including former executives of five companies that offered bribes and the former head of a company that received bribes. The rulings have been finalized for 11 of them.
   According to the indictment, Kadokawa conspired with two others to ask Haruyuki Takahashi, 80, former executive of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, for favors in the selection of sponsors and the setting of sponsorship fees.
   Kadokawa has been charged with giving Takahashi around 69 million yen between September 2019 and January 2021.

(2024/10/08-15:28)

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