General Management Consultant (Soken) executive and chief consultant Takeshi Shikasho on Thursday told the Diet, but not under oath, that he was never informed in 2004 about the building safety fraud centering on disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, although the whistle-blower to the scam claims otherwise.
Soken served as a consultant for hoteliers on more than 20 business hotels built with the fabricated data.
Given its close ties with the now-defunct Kimura Construction Co., which allegedly pressured Aneha to cut back on reinforcement steel in his designs, Soken is suspected of conspiring in the fraud.