The Nagoya District Court on Friday ordered a former Nagoya municipal assemblyman, a former city official and five contractors to pay 900 million yen to the city for illegally fixing a bid to build a dump site.
The court was ruling on a suit filed by 10 citizens, mostly residents of Nagoya, who said the two men and five companies as well as a former Nagoya mayor had conspired to pad the construction contract by 900 million yen in 1991 and should pay the money back to the city.
Judge Takeaki Noda, however, ruled that then-Mayor Takeyoshi Nishio was not involved in the bid-rigging.
Ruling on the other defendants, Noda said, "The Nagoya city official chose the successful bidders and indicated the bidding price. The defendants are responsible for the damage the city suffered."
A group led by Nissan Construction Co. won the bid for first-stage construction of the dump site in Nagoya's Kita Ward in 1991. But in 1992, mercury concentrations 66,000 times the normal level were found in soil, and Nissan Construction paid to remove it. The city did not disclose this or the budget for reimbursing the firm.
The bid for second-stage construction was won by a joint venture led by Kajima Corp. in 1993, while Nissan Construction was awarded subcontract work.
The court said the two men and five firms fixed the bids so Nissan Construction would became a second-stage subcontractor in exchange for paying the removal expense.
The 61-year-old former assemblyman asked the 65-year-old former city official to make Nissan Construction a subcontractor and to tell Kajima the price for the bid, according to the court. Both men were not identified.
The former assemblyman and former city official have been convicted of bribery in the case along with a 65-year-old vice manager of Kajima's Nagoya branch, who also was not named.