The Osaka Olympic Bidding Committee for the 2008 Summer Games was formally launched Monday amid an ongoing bribery scandal that has rocked the International Olympic Committee.

Apparently due to the wide-reaching scandal, which has already led to the resignation of several IOC members, government officials, including Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, opted not to join the bidding body.

In addition to central government leaders such as Obuchi, some Diet lawmakers elected from the Osaka area also decided against joining the group, reducing the number of participants to 545 — 105 people less than the initially projected figure, according to organizers.

Osaka City Mayor Takafumi Isomura will act as chairman of the committee, with Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, honorary chairman of the Japan Olympic Committee, serving as honorary chairman of the Osaka body.

The bidding committee will receive roughly 900 million yen in fiscal 1999 to cover operating expenses. Actual overtures toward IOC members will begin from 2000, after formal candidacy papers are filed.

At an afternoon ceremony at an Osaka hotel in the afternoon, the bidding committee adopted a resolution that included a pledge to keep the bidding process clean and in line with the ideals of the Olympic Charter.

However, the bribery scandal may lead to an overhaul of the rules and procedure by which the IOC selects a host city, and the role the bidding committee will play has become unclear, observers say.

Osaka will be competing against such rivals as Beijing, Paris and Johannesburg to host the 2008 Summer Games, and the winner will be decided during a general IOC meeting slated for September 2001 in Moscow.