Prosecutors on Monday arrested Takayoshi Kawano, 57, a top official at the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, and two others on suspicion of leading bid rigging for projects ordered by the agency.
The two others are Takashige Matsuda, 52, an official in the agency's general affairs department, and Mamoru Ikezawa, 57, a former technical councilor for the agency, according to sources at the special investigation department at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office.
According to an investigation, Kawano, currently a technical councilor, and the other two led the bid rigging between November 2004 and last March for installing an air-conditioning system in a Ground Self-Defense Force hospital in Tokyo and for another air-conditioning system installation at the agency's new facility in Ichigaya, in a conspiracy with the manufacturers.
The three played leading roles to enable joint ventures involving Taikisha Ltd., Shinryo Corp., Sanki and other manufacturers to be awarded the contracts, investigative sources said.
When they were involved in the bid rigging, Ikezawa, who now heads the Defense Facilities Technology Foundation, was the agency's technical councilor, Kawano was the chief of its construction department and Matsuda led the construction planning division in the department.
The prosecutors believe the bid rigging is similar to that involving electrical installation projects for the former government-owned operator of Narita International Airport.
