A former mayor of Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, pleaded guilty Monday to receiving 2 million yen in bribes in 1999 for unlawfully helping Hitachi Ltd. win the contract for a municipal waterworks project.

In his first trial session before the Tokyo District Court, Yoshishiro Kimura, 60, admitted leaking information regarding tenders to supply electrical equipment for the city's water purification plant to Hitachi Ltd. via the Tokyo-based consulting firm Gyosai Toshi Kaihatsu Kenkyujo (Gyosaiken).

Kimura, who was mayor at the time, told the court that in return, he accepted 2 million yen in July 1999 from Gyosaiken, which later accepted 5 million yen from a Hitachi subsidiary.