Japan 2020 bid leader says firm at centre of questions is legitimate

Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games emblems are displayed at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Tokyo July 24, 2015. REUTERS/Issei Kato

TOKYO (Reuters) - The leader of Japan's bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics and other Japanese officials on Monday said the company at the centre of questions raised about payments by the bid committee was a legitimate firm and not a paper company.

The Guardian newspaper reported last week that the Tokyo bid team 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 Lamine Diack.