Japan to press charges against 4 firms over maglev train bid-rigging case (updated)

Kajima

23/03/2018 02:07

* Taisei, Kajima, Obayashi, Shimizu to face charges -
regulator
    * Cos suspected of bid-rigging in maglev-related contracts
    * $80 bln maglev line to link Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka

 (Adds company comments, details on the probe, background)
    TOKYO, March 23 (Reuters) - Japanese regulators said on
Friday that they would press criminal charges against four
construction firms for suspected collusion over contracts for an
$80 billion high-speed magnetic levitation (maglev) train line.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1OI1E3
     The firms include Taisei Corp  1801.T , Kajima Corp
 1812.T , Obayashi Corp  1802.T  and Shimizu Corp  1803.T . The
Japan Fair Trade Commission said it would also press criminal
charges against an official at Taisei and another at Kajima.    
    A Shimizu spokesman told Reuters it was deeply sorry and
that the incident was regrettable, while the other firms said
they were still looking into the charges. 
    Prosecutors and anti-trust agency officials have been
investigating the so-called "big four" group of Japanese
construction firms for suspected antitrust breaches relating to
the high-profile maglev project since last year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1OK075
    Japan's large and politically influential construction
industry has been a frequent source of scandals such as
bid-rigging.
    Legislation has been tightened in recent years to prevent
collusion over contract bids, and Obayashi in 2006 required
managers to sign a pledge to abide by antitrust laws. The next
year, however, the firm's top management resigned following a
public works scandal.

 (Reporting by Yoshiyasu Shida
Writing by Minami Funakoshi
Editing by Chang-Ran Kim & Shri Navaratnam)
 ((minami.funakoshi@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1386; Reuters
Messaging: minami.funakoshi.reuters.com@reuters.net,
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