The Fair Trade Commission on Thursday inspected more than 10 land surveyors' offices in northeast Japan on suspicion of violating the Antimonopoly Law by rigging bids for public contracts, sources in the industry told Kyodo News.
The sites inspected were the head office of the Kokuyu Rinya Sokuryo Jigyo Kyoryokukai (The Cooperative Association of Businesses Surveying National Forests) and about 10 other offices belonging to nine members of the association, which is based in Aomori Prefecture.
The commission suspects the companies and the association fixed prices for land surveys carried out on behalf of the Construction Ministry, now known as the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, or prefectural governments for roads in Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.
The association earns some 1 billion yen annually in land survey contracts from the public sector, the sources said.