Japan's Olympics minister: not government's role to look into bid payments

TOKYO: Japan's Olympics minister Seiko Hashimoto said it was not the central government's role to look into reports about large payments the Tokyo campaign made to various entities in the run-up to the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) vote in 2013.

In response to a question from a lawmaker about Reuters' reporting on the subject, Hashimoto said it was the responsibility of the Japanese Olympic Committee and the Tokyo metropolitan government to explain the bid's activities.

IOC chief Thomas Bach said last week no IOC rules were infringed by payments in 2013 and 2014 totaling more than $8 million from the Tokyo Olympic bid committee to an executive of the Tokyo organising committee.