Japan Press Weekly

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2011 November 2 - 8 TOP3 [SCANDAL]

Ex-Osaka governor Hashimoto suspected of bribery

A construction firm of a friend of former Osaka Prefectural Governor Hashimoto Toru, who announced his resignation as governor to run for Osaka City mayor, won public works contracts one after another after helping Hashimoto to find purchasers of fund-raising party tickets.

It is considered as corruption to receive political donations or favors from companies which receive public works contracts.

According to Akahata on November 5, the company is Kisha Kensetsu (Kisha Construction Corporation) whose representative director is Hashimoto’s friend. They played rugby together in the same junior high school.

The man in question is said to have been engaged in ticket sales and collection of sales proceeds on behalf of Hashimoto’s political organization which hosted a fund-raising party in June 2008. He, as a mediator, collected 1.8 million yen out of 18.2 million yen in total ticket revenues.

By law, one is allowed to buy party tickets up to 1.5 million yen, but mediated ticket purchases are open-ended. Political organizations can basically keep secret the names of mediated purchasers and how much they bought.

In 2007 sometime before the party, Kisha Kensetsu had no record of receiving even a single public works contract. In the 2 years after the party, however, this construction company was awarded 5 contracts amounting to 677.8 million yen.

An Akahata reporter tried to contact Kisha Kensetsu but could not because the company’s head office does not exist at the registered address.

Akahata also reported that the company’s bid-winning process had been suspiciously obscure.

In 2008, Kisha Kensetsu succeeded in winning 2 bids at the exactly same amount as the minimum bid price (undisclosed before biddings) set by Osaka Prefecture. In one instance, six companies suddenly pulled out of a competitive bid right before the bidding. In 2009, Kisha Kensetsu made a successful bid for a public works contract although the company tendered a lower bid than the minimum benchmark price.

Miyahara Takeshi, a head of the Japanese Communist Party Osaka Prefectural Assembly Members’ Group, said, “Hashimoto’s friend was selling Hashimoto’s fund-raising party tickets, and a company owned by this man received public works contracts. What’s more, the company’s bidding process was extremely obscure. I think Hashimoto should be politically and morally responsible for allowing this conflict of interest to influence decisions as governor.”

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A case similar to this was also previously exposed. A construction company of Hashimoto’ uncle increasingly received contracts for public works projects after this company bought Hashimoto’s fund-raising party tickets.

Reportedly, the uncle bought Hashimoto’s party tickets worth 1 million yen. The uncle’s construction company group was awarded public works contracts amounting to 650 million yen between January 2008 (when Hashimoto became governor) and November 2009. Compared to the period before Hashimoto became the governor, public works orders the uncle’s company group received was doubled.