- Title: Singaporean company becomes the center of Tokyo Olympic bidding investigation
- Date: 16th May 2016
- Summary: SINGAPORE (MAY 16, 2016) (REUTERS) DAKOTA CRESCENT VARIOUS OF BUILDING, 28 DAKOTA CRESCENT, HOUSING REGISTERED ADDRESS OF BLACK TIDINGS ENTRANCE OF 28 DAKOTA CRESCENT LETTER BOXES AT ENTRANCE OF BUILDING LETTER BOX FOR BLACK TIDINGS REGISTERED ADDRESS FRONT DOOR OF BLACK LISTING REGISTERED ADDRESS UNIT NUMBER OF BLACK LISTING REGISTERED ADDRESS VARIOUS OF TENANTS BELONGINGS IN FRONT OF DOOR
- Embargoed: 31st May 2016 07:14
- Keywords: Singapore Japan Tokyo Olympic bidding investigations company Black Tidings
- Location: SINGAPORE AND TOKYO, JAPAN
- City: SINGAPORE AND TOKYO, JAPAN
- Country: Singapore
- Topics: Olympics,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0014I23P6N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS FIVE FRAMES OF WHITE FLASHED BETWEEN SOUNDBITES EN LIEU OF A CUTAWAY
A Singaporean company called Black Tidings has on Monday (May 16) become the center of an investigation of payments made by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bidding committee and linked to disgraced former international athletics chief President Lamine Diack.
The company business address was located in a government housing complex in a suburban part of Singapore, seemingly occupied.
Meanwhile in Tokyo, questions were being asked in parliament about the legitimacy of these payments to this business.
"The consulting company needed for the gathering of information and our (bidding) strategy and that company is the company that has been mentioned. However we have been informed that the Tokyo bidding committee could not have been aware of the connection of this company with Lamine Diack," Japanese Sports Minister Hiroshi Hase told a committee meeting in parliament.
The Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday (May 11) the Tokyo bid team had made payments totalling more than $2 million to a Singapore bank account it said was linked to Papa Massata Diack, son of disgraced former international athletics chief President Lamine Diack.
In a statement on Friday (May 13), bidding committee ex-president Tsunekazu Takeda and ex-director general Nobumoto Higuchi denied the allegations and said the money was for consultant fees incurred by the company.
Diack senior is under a French police investigation for corruption at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) during his time as president. His son, believed to be in Senegal, declined to comment to the Guardian because of the investigation, the paper reported.
The Singapore account where the money was allegedly deposited was controlled by Ian Tan Tong Han, a friend of the younger Diack. Japanese media and opposition party members say the company was without substance and a paper company front - something Takeda was in parliament to deny.
"You have indicated that this company is a paper company, but this company has a business record, and we absolutely believe that this is not a paper company," Takeda said.
"Consultants in this industry often are individual business people who because travelling around the world, often use their homes as a business address," he added.
Takeda is currently a vice president of the Tokyo 2020 Games organisation and the president of Japan's Olympic Committee, as well as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member.
The IOC has said it has been in touch with French magistrates who are investigating the IAAF case involving Diack and his son and are also looking into the specific payments.
An IOC spokesman said the group's ethics and compliance officer would continue to be in contact with French authorities to clarify any alleged improper conduct, while French prosecutors declined to comment. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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