Prosecutors investigating four major contractors over alleged collusion on bids for work on the Tokyo-Osaka maglev project suspect that a former executive of Taisei Corp. gathered information from the train operator before bidding and acted as a mediator, investigative sources said Tuesday.
The former managing executive officer of Taisei is suspected of having received information, such as expected costs, about planned work for the ¥9 trillion ($79 billion) project from a now deceased senior executive of train operator Central Japan Railway Co., known as JR Tokai.
Prosecutors believe the Taisei official then shared the information with the other three construction firms — Kajima Corp., Obayashi Corp. and Shimizu Corp. — to coordinate their bids.