The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday arrested Kadokawa Chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, 79, on suspicion of offering bribes totaling around ¥69 million to a former executive of the Tokyo Games organizing committee.

Prosecutors suspect Kadokawa made the bribes to Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, a former Dentsu executive and a prominent figure in the sports business world. Takahashi is at the center of a growing bribery scandal engulfing the Tokyo Games, which were held last summer after a one-year postponement.

Kadokawa is suspected of transferring the funds on nine occasions from the firm's bank account to a consulting firm headed by Kazumasa Fukami, 73, also a former Dentsu employee, between September 2019 and January 2021 as a reward for giving the publisher an advantage to be selected as a sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.