An investigation into a payment made during Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics has found no evidence of bribery.
A report published on Thursday by an independent panel appointed by the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) said that a £1.74m fee paid to Black Tidings, a Singapore-based consultancy, was legitimate and had been made in return for consulting services.
"The investigation team concludes that it does not form any crime under the penal code of France, and furthermore, that no violation of the IOC code of ethics can be found," the report said.
"What was most important for the team was to probe whether the bid committee in fact bribed someone," one of the panel members, Yoshihisa Hayakawa, said.
"We think the investigation cleared the group of any suspicion in this regard."
French prosecutors had said that they were investigating the sum in May this year as part of a corruption inquiry, with the payment being linked to the son of ex-world athletics chief Lamine Diack, who was a member of the International Olympics Committee at the time.
The president of Black Tidings, Ian Tan Tong Han, is said to be an associate of Papa Massata Diack, Lamine's son.
Giuseppe Labellarte
