Business suit retailer Aoki Holdings Inc. paid 500 million yen ($3.7 million) for its sponsorship deal with the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, less than half of what it cost other companies for similar arrangements, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The revelations come a day after the arrests of Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympic organizing committee executive who had significant influence in sports circles, and Hironori Aoki, a former chairman of the retailer, along with two others, on bribery allegations.

Aoki released a statement Wednesday in the wake of the arrests saying it would cooperate with the investigation by prosecutors.

Sponsors, which held contracts with the organizing committee, were divided into separate categories -- "gold partner," "official partner" or "official supporter" -- depending on the amount they paid.

Aoki was categorized as an "official supporter" for the Tokyo Games held in 2021 after a one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The standard fee for a sponsor at that tier was approximately 1.5 billion yen, sources said.

The upper-level "gold partners" paid roughly 15 billion yen.

Aoki was found to have allocated some 250 million yen in additional funds towards "strengthening athletes," of which about 230 million was transferred to Takahashi's consulting company.

==Kyodo

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