Mayor Yoshishiro Kimura of Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, is believed to have passed information on a tender for a public works project to a consultant over dinner a few days before bidding was opened in 1999, investigative sources said Wednesday.

Kimura, 59, is suspected of giving the information to Mitsuro Ozaki, 56, who was formerly a secretary to House of Representatives member Michihiko Kano, when they dined together at a Tokyo restaurant, the sources said.

Kimura and Ozaki were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of obstructing the public works tender by receiving money in connection with a bid from Hitachi Ltd., which won the contract.

Teruo Shimada, 54, a gardening company executive and a relative of Kimura, and Seiji Ono, 52, an employee of Ozaki's consulting firm, were also present at the restaurant, according to the sources.

Shimada and Ono were also arrested Tuesday together with three Hitachi group employees in connection with the suspected bid rigging.

The tender was for a contract for electrical equipment for a water purification plant ordered by a waterworks enterprise jointly set up by the city of Ishioka and the neighboring village of Tamari.

The tender was won by Hitachi in March 1999 with a bid of 883 million yen, 3 million yen lower than the target price set by Ishioka.

Ozaki allegedly paid Kimura 2 million yen in return for the bid information in August 1999, and a Hitachi group firm remitted 5 million yen to a bank account of Ozaki's consulting company the following month, the sources said.

On Wednesday, prosecutors raided the Ishioka Municipal Office and the consulting firm, Gyosai Toshi Kaihatsu Kenkyujo, based in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, in connection with the case.

According to the sources, Shimada arranged several meetings between Kimura and Ozaki, who was also working for the consulting firm. The mayor allegedly passed the bid information to Shimada and it eventually reached Hitachi through Ozaki.

The mayor, however, told Kyodo News before his arrest that he did not know Shimada was involved in the operations of the consulting firm.

Kimura has been mayor of Ishioka since 1991.

Ozaki became a secretary to Kano in 1976 after being secretary to another House of Representatives member, now deceased, elected from Ibaraki Prefecture. He set up the firm after quitting Kano's office in 1994.