Prosecutors indicted House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki and his policy secretary Wednesday on charges of taking about 6 million yen in bribes from a construction company based in Abashiri, Hokkaido, while Suzuki was head of the Hokkaido Development Agency.
Suzuki, 54, has already been indicted on charges of taking a 5 million yen bribe from Hokkaido logging company Yamarin in August 1998.
According to the indictment, Suzuki and Jun Tada, 50, accepted the bribe money on four occasions after receiving requests between October 1997 and August 1998 from Shimada Kensetsu President Mitsuo Shimada, 56, to help his firm win nine contracts for port construction projects in Hokkaido.
Suzuki asked a high-ranking agency official to arrange for the construction company to win the contracts after receiving requests from Shimada in October 1997 and January 1998, the indictment said.
In January 1998, Suzuki received from Shimada a list of public works projects the company wanted to win, according to the indictment. The company eventually won all nine contracts.
Suzuki and Tada have apparently denied the allegations against them, according to investigative sources.
Investigative authorities did not arrest Shimada for bribing Suzuki and Tada because the three-year statute of limitations on the charge has already expired. That on the charge of receiving the bribes is five years.