Advertising giant Dentsu Inc. will likely face criminal charges over alleged bid-rigging related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
On Wednesday, the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested four people -- including Yasuo Mori, former deputy executive director of the Tokyo Games organizing committee's Operations Bureau, and former Dentsu executive Koji Henmi -- on suspicion of violating the Antimonopoly Law. Prosecutors believe that the organizing committee teamed up with Dentsu and used the advertising firm's tremendous influence to force other companies to participate in rigging bids.
The investigation "has cut into the industry-wide bid-rigging that resulted from the dominance of a single company," a senior prosecutor said. "We will pursue Dentsu's responsibility as a corporation."
