A senior official of the Niigata Municipal Government and the head of a local construction company were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of rigging bids for public works projects.
This action by the Niigata District Public Prosecutor's Office was unprecedented in that the Fair Trade Commission had earlier decided not to file a criminal complaint over the case.
It is the first time since the Antimonopoly Law took effect in 1947 that prosecutors have moved on a bid-rigging case dropped by the FTC.