The Japanese government has reportedly confirmed payments in 2013 to a firm in Singapore linked to the son of former world athletics federation IAAF supremo Lamine Diack, saying they were not questionable.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told a news conference on Friday the Tokyo Olympic bid team made the payments.
They were "legitimate consultation fees", said Hagiuda, a close aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Jiji Press reported.
Hagiuda said the Japan Sports Agency gave this explanation, which the Japanese Olympic Committee conveyed to the International Olympic Committee, the report said.
They were "not questionable" payments, he stressed.
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French prosecutors said on Thursday they had launched an investigation into a payment of 2.8 million Singapore dollars ($A2.73 million) linked to Tokyo's successful bid for the 2020 Olympics to an account linked to Papa Massata Diack who was an IAAF adviser.
The French financial prosecutor's office said in a statement the payment was made in two instalments from a bank in Tokyo to the Black Tidings company in Singapore and marked "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game bid".
Papa Massata Diack is sought by Interpol in connection with a French corruption investigation targeting the Diacks around the covering up of positive doping cases.
Lamine Diack was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) between 1999 and 2014. Tokyo was elected 2020 host city by the IOC in September 2013 over Madrid and Istanbul.
