PARIS— French prosecutors said Thursday that $2 million tied to Tokyo’s winning bid for the 2020 Olympics was apparently paid to an account linked to the son of the disgraced former IAAF president in the months immediately before and after the Japanese capital won the games.
The French financial prosecutor’s office said it has been told of payments totaling 2.8 million Singapore dollars that were marked “Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game Bid,” from a Japanese bank to the Black Tidings company in Singapore.
The Singapore account is thought to have been held by a close friend of Papa Massata Diack, the son of former IAAF President Lamine Diack. The son is being sought by Interpol and the father is under investigation in France.
The French prosecutors probing suspected corruption by the Diacks and associates said they were told the transfers occurred in July and October 2013. Tokyo was chosen in September 2013 as the 2020 host, beating Madrid and Istanbul in a vote of the International Olympic Committee.
As an IOC member at the time, the elder Diack had a vote. He was also a high-profile figure who could influence blocs of IOC votes.
