Prosecutors on Tuesday served fresh warrants to the mayor of Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, a former aide to a lawmaker and two others over a 2 million yen bribe in connection with alleged bid-rigging.
Ishioka Mayor Yoshishiro Kimura, 60, Mitsuro Ozaki, 56, a former secretary for a Diet member and now an executive at a Tokyo consulting firm, and the two others were arrested Jan. 15 on suspicion of obstructing a public works tender in March 1999 by providing information to Hitachi Ltd., which won the bid.
Also Tuesday, prosecutors arrested three employees of Hitachi group firms on suspicion of bribing the mayor, who has tendered his letter of resignation to the city assembly but has not formally stepped down.