Two general contractors undergoing rehabilitation donated 7 million yen to the governing Liberal Democratic Party after their creditors waived some of their debts, according to a government report on political funds released Thursday.
Fujita Corp. donated 6 million yen over three years -- 2 million yen each year from 1999 to 2001 -- to the LDP chapter in Nagasaki Prefecture. The donations followed an agreement with the firm's creditors over waiving 120 billion yen of its debts earlier in 1999.
Hazama Corp. donated 1 million yen to the LDP chapter in 2001 after creditors waived 105 billion yen of its debts in 2000, according to the report.
Fujita has admitted making the donations and said it will refrain from doing so again. But Hazama has denied making such donations, saying it rejected a request for donations by Goro Asada, secretary general of the LDP chapter.
Nagasaki prosecutors raided the LDP chapter late last month in connection with suspected illegal donations in a gubernatorial election.
According to the chapter, Asada and another official in the chapter asked about 30 construction companies in 2001 to make political donations.
Of them, seven had donated several million yen to the chapter by last January. The seven all had previously received construction orders from the prefectural government.
Prosecutors suspect the two officials violated the Public Offices Election Law by demanding that construction companies that received public works projects make such donations, investigative sources said.
The LDP backed the incumbent, Genjiro Kaneko, in the gubernatorial election.