Japan’s Dentsu lobbied for and funded campaign for Tokyo games, documents show, despite Olympics contract

Tan Tong Han, owner of Black Tidings, leaves a court in Singapore April 12, 2018. Picture taken April 12, 2018. Mandatory credit Wong Kwai Chow/The Straits Times via REUTERS

TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dentsu Inc donated more than $6 million to Tokyo's successful campaign to host the 2020 Olympics, according to bank records seen by Reuters, and it lobbied members of the International Olympic Committee on behalf of the city, according to three people involved in the lobbying. The activities created a potential conflict of interest for the Japanese advertising company, which had a separate contract with the IOC to market the games.

To assist in its effort, Dentsu endorsed the hiring of a Singaporean consultant by the Tokyo Olympic campaign. The company’s role is laid out in transcripts of interviews company executives gave to investigators appointed by the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) to examine whether there had been any wrongdoing in the course of Tokyo’s campaign. French prosecutors investigating corruption in global sports suspect that consultant, Tan Tong Han, played a role in bribing Olympic voters for Tokyo in 2013, according to two people familiar with the French probe. Tan did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.