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Osaka prosecutors to raid Ebara Corp. over bid-rigging+
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)OSAKA, April 18_(Kyodo) _ Public prosecutors will raid several companies including the Osaka branch of Ebara Corp. and Hitachi Zosen Corp. on Tuesday on suspicion of their involvement in bid-rigging for a sewerage plant in Osaka, investigative sources said Monday.
The Osaka branch of Ebara won the bid in February last year for 2.04 billion yen, which was 94.8 percent of the maximum permissible contract price set by authorities for the project ordered by the city of Hannan in Osaka Prefecture.
Ebara, based in Tokyo, and Hitachi Zosen, based in the city of Osaka, are both listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
According to investigations, 11 major plant-engineering companies planned to take part in bidding for the project in February last year, but three of them, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., withdrew.
The municipal government of Hannan received a tip-off that there may have been bid-rigging but could not confirm any illicit act and proceeded with the contract.
The Fair Trade Commission, the Japanese government's competition policy watchdog, is also conducting investigations into suspected bid-rigging for sewerage projects ordered by municipal governments nationwide.
The FTC has questioned people in the plant-engineering business over the project ordered by Hannan and some firms have admitted to bid-rigging, the sources said.
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