(Update) 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.
   Public prosecutors said in their opening statement that the publisher's Olympics-related operations were carried out at the former chairman's discretion.
   They said that the suspect approved plans to make payments to Haruyuki Takahashi, 80, former executive of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, in the name of consulting fees after being told by a former company managing director of the legal risk of paying money in exchange for being selected as a Games sponsor.
   According to the indictment, Kadokawa conspired with two others, including the 66-year-old former managing director, to ask Takahashi for favors in the selection of sponsors and the setting of sponsorship fees.

(2024/10/08-17:20)

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