A former land ministry employee and two corporate executives were arrested Wednesday for allegedly fixing a bid for a land survey project for the Ken-o Expressway, the 300-km route circling Tokyo and traversing four prefectures.
Police searched about 10 locations, including the home of Hisakazu Ito, 56, former deputy head of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry's highway office for the northern metropolitan area.
Ito, Hideyuki Ebihara, 66, president of Kyoritsu Sokuryo, a land survey company in Suginami Ward, and Yoshihiro Abe, 46, the firm's senior managing director, have all reportedly confessed.
Ito and Ebihara met while working in a land acquisition and surveying division at the former Construction Ministry, while Ito and Abe have known each other for about 10 years.