Japan Fair Trade Body Files Complaint (2006-5-23)
Japan\’s anti-monopoly watchdog filed a criminal complaint against 11 leading machinery makers Tuesday, urging prosecutors to investigate them over alleged bid-rigging for construction of eight sewage plants ordered by local governments, officials said.
The companies allegedly rigged bids in the projects in Osaka and seven other prefectures (states) in western Japan last year, by choosing in advance the winners and fixing bidding prices for the contracts, each worth 30 to 50 billion yen (US$269 million to $448 million; euro224 million to euro373 million), Fair Trade Commission spokesman Akinori Yamada said.
The FTC singled out Kubota Corp., Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., Kurita Water Industries Ltd., Ataka Construction & Engineering Co., Nishihara Environment Technology Inc., Ebara Corp., JFE Engineering Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Hitachi Zosen Corp., Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co. and Takuma Co.
Hours later, Osaka prosecutors arrested seven officials from seven of the firms in connection with the alleged bids, said an Osaka Prosecutors\’ Office official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official refused to disclose other details, including names of officials arrested.
"It is truly regrettable that our company faced a criminal accusation and an employee was arrested," Kubota said in a statement, referring to the arrest of Kenichi Terakawa, 59, a senior official of the Osaka-based company. The country\’s top maker of farm equipment, Kubota said it will fully cooperate with the investigation.
Ebara, a Tokyo-based major maker of industrial pumps, issued a similar statement. "We will take the situation seriously, and put together an organization to prevent anything similar from happening and thoroughly abiding by rules," Ebara said.
Ryuta Chisaka, an Ebara spokesman, confirmed that Masanori Hasegawa, 56, an Ebara senior official in charge of environmental business, was arrested.
The government plans to introduce stricter guidelines to prevent the widespread practice of bid-rigging, known as "dango," which foreign competitors say virtually shuts them out.
If convicted, individual violators of the anti-monopoly law face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 5 million yen (US$44,800; euro37,300), and companies face a fine of up to 500 million yen (US$4.5 million; euro3.7 million).
(Source: Yahoo Finance)
