The Fair Trade Commission searched the offices of about 30 roadwork firms Thursday in connection with alleged bid-rigging on highway contracts, sources at the commission said.
The firms are suspected of rigging bids for maintenance contracts on the Tomei Expressway, which connects Tokyo and Nagoya, and other highways ordered by the state-affiliated Japan Public Highway Corp., the sources said. They did not specify the period involved.
The firms include affiliates and subsidiaries of Japan Public Highway, such as Nippon Maintenance Service. Some executives of the affiliates are former officials of the public corporation.
The firms also include major road-paving companies Nipponhodo Co., Taisei Rotec Corp. and Seikitokyu Kogyo Co.
The FTC suspects the firms collaborated on their tenders to prevent the prices of contracts from falling.
The FTC also plans to ask Japan Public Highway to explain why maintenance contracts have mainly gone to its affiliates.
The corporation spent about 24 billion yen in fiscal 2000 on road maintenance, including post-accident repairs, cleaning, horticultural services, and snow and ice clearing.
The firms searched by the FTC are believed to have received orders worth about 10 billion yen in fiscal 2000.
Japan Public Highway used to sign contracts with roadwork companies on an optional contract basis, but introduced a competitive bidding system in 1997 in the wake of criticism that its affiliates monopolized the orders.
A spokesman at Japan Public Highway said the organization will cooperate with the FTC probe but declined to comment further.