Mizutani Kensetsu Co. and its representative director, Shigeyuki Nakamura, were charged Friday with evading corporate taxes by hiding part of the firm's income in the business year through August 2003, prosecutors said.

Nakamura, 55, is believed to have conspired with the engineering firm's former chairman, Isao Mizutani, who is now under arrest, by booking a bogus loss related to a land transaction in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, according to Tokyo prosecutors. Mizutani was arrested for violating the corporate tax law.

According to the investigation, Mizutani Kensetsu, based in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, acquired land in Iwaki in September 1998 for about 800 million yen. It then sold the plot to a construction firm in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, in July 2003 for about 20 million yen, booking the difference as a loss.

Mizutani Kensetsu's head office and Mizutani's home were searched by prosecutors in December in a probe over bilked state subsidies.