The bribery scandal being uncovered after the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics allegedly extends even to the cute but lucrative stuffed mascot toys.
Haruyuki Takahashi, the former executive board member of the organizing committee at the heart of the scandal, is under further suspicion of helping a Tokyo-based stuffed toy company secure the contract to sell replicas of the official mascots.
As officially licensed products, the stuffed toys could only be sold with the approval of the organizing committee.
