Major contractor Kajima Corp. was involved when the Democratic Party of Japan branch in Nagano Prefecture headed by Lower House member Mitsu Shimojo allegedly padded the number of supporters in its 2005 funding report, according to whistle-blowers.
A group led by a former secretary to Shimojo filed a criminal complaint Sept. 3 with Tokyo prosecutors saying that annual fees for some 900 bogus supporters were falsely booked in the report, and claimed some of those names may still be registered and carry the right to vote in Tuesday's DPJ leadership election.
Kajima asked dozens of construction companies in Nagano to submit their staff registers to lend names as supporters to the local DPJ branch, because Shimojo's uncle is Kajima's chairman emeritus, according to the former secretary and a former employee.
Kajima's head office admitted that it "cooperated" with the branch in gathering names for its supporter list but said it has "no concern with annual fees."
The group says in the criminal complaint that Shimojo himself paid the bogus members' annual DPJ fees.