Suspicious documents of “watching soccer matches during the Athletics Federation’s overseas tours… Two faces of Yasuo Mori, the suspect arrested in the Tokyo Olympics bid-rigging case, were shown.

On August 8, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Yasuo Mori, 55, former deputy director of the Organizing Committee’s Management Bureau, on charges of violating the Antimonopoly Law (unfair restriction of trade) in a bid-rigging case involving the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics operations.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, which is said to be the most powerful investigative agency in Japan, has begun to take the former deputy director into custody after he began to admit to the charges.

Mori is believed to have been in a position to influence not only major advertising companies such as Dentsu and Hakuhodo, which won the bidding, but also athletic organizations and to have been in a position to control the management of the Olympics. He has a strong influence in the political and sports worlds, and since he shares the same surname as former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who resigned his post as chairman midway through his term, he has become a “mini Mori” and wielded a powerful presence.

What kind of person is he?

After graduating from Yokohama National University, he joined Tokyu Corporation in 1991 and was involved in urban development. I was a member of the track and field team as a student, and in 2004 I moved to the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF). Since the JAAF is the core organization of the athletic federation, I expanded my contacts with the JOC (Japan Olympic Committee) and Dentsu, and when the Tokyo Organizing Committee for the Tokyo Olympics was established, I joined the Steering Committee.

The Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee’s Operation Bureau is a key position that holds the key to the success of the Olympics. Among these, Mori has attracted media attention as a key person in charge of the National Stadium, the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, and has spoken at the Japan Press Club twice, once in November 2019, before the Olympics, and once in March 2022, after the Games.

Newspaper reporters who attended those meetings lifted up such comments as, “There is always this person at the site of the Games,” and “He expressed his belief that a system should be put in place to utilize the human resources involved in the management of the Games.

Even as Mori was being arbitrarily interrogated, media representatives were saying, “There was no collusion. Mr. Mori is a person who worked hard for the success of the event.

On the other hand, those involved with the Athletics Federation were harsh.

All he did was collect money. He didn’t say anything at the meetings, nor did he sit at his computer taking minutes. In fact, he is an amateur in track and field. I remember that there was even a dubious document circulating that he had visited overseas competitions with Athletics Federation money and had also watched soccer games on the same trip.

Mori is suspected of collusion in the bid-rigging of not only the test events, but also the main event, which was commissioned under a negotiated contract worth a total of 40 billion yen.

He had denied the allegations when his home and other locations were raided, but he has now turned around and is willing to admit that the list with the names of the companies on it was meant to allocate the winning bidders.

Although prosecutors arrested former JOC director Haruyuki Takahashi and others in the Olympic corruption case, they regret that they could not extend their investigation to former JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda and former Prime Minister Mori. It is believed that the latest bid-rigging scandal will be pursued with prestige, and the arrest of former deputy director Mori may be the beginning of a tumultuous chapter.