A former Nagoya city official and five others were arrested Tuesday for allegedly obstructing bidding for public works involving road cleaning in April.
The Nagoya District Public Prosecutor's Office said that Nori Kawai, 57, the former city official, is suspected of ordering his colleagues to leak information on the planned prices for cleaning the roads of one area in the city to an association of designated companies before bidding began. The companies then determined which firms should be awarded contracts, it said.
The prosecutors said 10 companies were awarded contracts, worth a total 572 million yen, on April 10. The five employees arrested with Kawai were from three of the 10 firms, they said.