Tsunekazu Takeda is under investigation in France over alleged corruption<\/b>
\nThe head of the Japan Olympic Committee, under investigation in France over alleged corruption, said on Tuesday he would stand down at the end of his term in June and resign from the International Olympic Committee.
Tsunekazu Takeda, a 71-year-old former equestrian who has chaired the JOC since 2001, has not been charged with any crime and continues to deny allegations that Japan paid bribes as part of its campaign to secure the 2020 games.
\u201cI am extremely sorry to have caused such a disturbance to the public,\u201d said Mr Takeda after a meeting of the JOC in Tokyo on Tuesday.\u00a0\u201cThe most suitable thing is entrust the next era to a younger leader as we head into the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.\u201d
Mr Takeda was placed under\u00a0formal investigation in France in December over payments worth around $2m that were allegedly connected to Japan\u2019s successful bid to host the games. In the French legal system, a formal probe is generally launched before any charges are filed.
French prosecutors have alleged \u2014 and the Tokyo bid committee has acknowledged \u2014 that a\u00a0first payment in July 2013 and a second three months later were made under the title of \u201cTokyo 2020 Olympic Game Bid\u201d to a Singaporean account held by Black Tidings, a consulting company.
Black Tidings reportedly had links to Papa Massata Diack, son of Lamine Diack, the Senegalese former world athletics chief. The elder Mr Diack had great sway over Olympic voters in Africa. In a separate case, he has been charged with corruption in France.
However, an external investigation in Japan found that the sums paid to Black Tidings were not excessive for a consultant and there was no evidence of bribery by the bid committee. The investigation did not look into how Black Tidings used its consulting fee.
\u201cAs I have been saying, I did nothing improper,\u201d said Mr Takeda.\u00a0\u201cI plan to work hard to demonstrate my innocence.\u201d
The case grew out of a broader French probe into corruption in athletics. The allegations\u00a0first appeared in 2016, but then there was a long silence, before the news that Mr Takeda was under investigation broke in January.
That month he made a brief statement to the press but refused to answer questions, adding to growing nerves within the International Olympic Committee, the Tokyo government and the corporate backers of Japan\u2019s bid.
With less than 500 days to go until the Tokyo games, there are fears that further headlines about corruption could overshadow the sporting action.<\/p>\n