A company connected to the former secretary of a senior politician received more than 10 million yen from construction companies in return for introducing local government heads and major contractors, industry sources said.

A former secretary to House of Representatives member Michihiko Kano, deputy head of the Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition party, is a board member of Gyosai-Toshikaihatsu Kenkyusho (Gyosaiken), a consultant company based in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.

The sources alleged Tuesday that the company received commissions from construction firms for introducing them to local government heads and general contractors in relation to public works projects nationwide.

The sources said the consultant company's business records show the names of subcontractors it introduced, the local government heads in the Tohoku and Kanto regions and the amount of commissions it received.

The company is suspected of failing to declare nearly 100 million yen in income, including the commissions, the sources said.

In a related development, the president of a consultant company in Sendai who was once a secretary to another Lower House member is suspected of failing to declare more than 100 million yen in income that he collected from construction companies in the name of "information fees" relating to public works.

The Sendai man used business cards of senior officials of Gyosaiken to collect the money, the sources said.

Gyosaiken also took a contingency fee when the subcontractors succeeded in receiving an order for public works. It received a large percentage of the construction contract value -- several million yen, the sources said.

It denied any wrongdoing, claiming it only lent the company's name to the presidents of the subcontractors to help work go smoothly.

Gyosaiken was established in 1994 by Kano's former secretary and a former secretary to the late Hirokichi Nadao, a former speaker of the House of Representatives. The former secretary for Nadao serves as president of firm.

It collected 100,000 yen to 300,000 yen in monthly fees from general contractors in return for providing them with information about public works projects and competitors' activities. It posted 150 million yen in sales in the business year that ended last March.

Kano was re-elected in the Yamagata No. 1 district in June 2000.