Tokyo 2020 payments were ‘legitimate’ – Japan Olympic chief

Tokyo (AFP) – Japan’s Olympic chief said Friday that payments reported by British media raising questions over alleged corruption by Tokyo’s 2020 Games bid were “legitimate”. 

Tsunekazu Takeda, the former head of Tokyo’s successful bid committee, said reports of clandestine payments were unfounded, describing them as a “legitimate consultant’s fee”.

French prosecutors on Thursday said they suspect that $2 million paid to a son of disgraced former world athletics supremo Lamine Diack was aimed at winning support for the Tokyo 2020 bid.