In a seven-minute prepared speech, he apologised for “having caused concern”
The president of the Japanese Olympic Committee on Tuesday again denied corruption allegations against him, suggesting any guilt was with others at the Japanese body.
Tsunekazu Takeda, who was last month indicted in France on corruption allegations, read a seven-minute prepared text and then took no questions from hundreds of journalists.
“I am very sorry for having caused concern for those working very hard to prepare for Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics and Paralympics,” Takeda said, speaking in Japanese.
Takeda gave only courtesy bows before and after his speech, not the low, sustained bows associated with showing deep remorse.
He acknowledged he had signed off on about US$2 million in payments to a Singapore consulting company, Black Tidings.
French investigators have linked Black Tidings to Papa Massata Diack, one of the sons of powerful ex-IOC member Lamine Diack of Senegal.
Lamine Diack had huge influence over Olympic voters in Africa. In 2013, IOC members voted for Tokyo, eliminating attractive bids from Madrid and Istanbul.
“The contract (with Black Tidings) was reviewed and I did make the final signature,” said Takeda, who is the head of the IOC marketing commission. He called it a “regular commercial contract procedure” and said “there were several others who signed off before me”.
“As for me, I was not involved in the decision-making process for deciding on Black Tiding.
