The former president of major Japanese advertising agency ADK Holdings admitted in a court hearing on Friday to having bribed a Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive in connection with the 2021 sporting event.
At the Tokyo District Court, Shinichi Ueno, 69, admitted to providing a total of around ¥14 million ($104,000) to Haruyuki Takahashi, 78, who exercised influence over the committee's marketing division and has been indicted four times for receiving bribes.
Prosecutors said in their opening statement in the first court hearing that the payment to Takahashi, formerly an executive of Japan's largest ad agency, Dentsu, had continued despite ADK Holdings' corporate lawyer having warned the money would be the equivalent of bribery.