PARIS—French authorities have brought preliminary charges against the president of Japan’s Olympic Committee on suspicion he was involved in bribing African countries to back Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Olympic Games. France’s National Financial Prosecutors are investigating whether Tsunekazu Takeda—a second cousin of Japanese Emperor Akihito who oversees Japan’s Olympic Committee—was guilty of corruption in authorizing two payments worth a total of €1.8 million ($2.1) to a Singapore-based company called Black Tidings,...

Source: Wall Street Journal January 11, 2019 11:18 UTC