scandal

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Koizumi Cabinet members received money from construction firms charged with bid rigging

Eleven construction firms which are being charged with rigging bids for bridge construction contracts used part of their profits to make political donations to seven Koizumi Cabinet members.

This de facto kickback was revealed on July 22 by Japanese Communist Party representative Keiji Kokuta during his questioning at the House of Representatives Committee on Land, Transportation and Infrastructure.

Kokuta said that between 2000 and 2003, about 8,640,000 yen (about 80,000 U.S. dollars) was given to: Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka; Education Minister Nakayama Shigenari; Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Nakagawa Shoichi; Senior Vice Land, Transportation, and Infrastructure Minister Iwai Kuniomi, and two Cabinet Office senior vice ministers, Nishikawa Koya and Hayashida Takeshi.

The JCP lawmaker said that members of two bid-rigging groups of construction companies, Group A and Group K were awarded a total of 771.8 billion yen in contracts with the Land, Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry in the five years up to 2004. It is estimated that they earned 14,360,000 yen in unfair profits. -- Akahata, July 23, 2005