Eighteen of the 48 building inspection companies approved by the government do not use proper screening procedures when checking building plans, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said Monday.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='200' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='/images/photos2005/nn20051129a2a.jpg' WIDTH='200' HEIGHT='293'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>People view Grand Stage Kawasaki Daishi, a condominium built by Huser Ltd. and deemed unsafe in strong earthquakes, on Monday. The city government ordered its residents to vacate the building. </B></FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>The lax inspection policies, which include lack of document inspection, came to light in an urgent survey conducted by the ministry, which is attempting to get a handle on the building safety scandal involving eHomes Inc., one of the government-designated inspection offices. </PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>EHomes failed to detect false quake-resistance data used in dozens of defective building designs submitted by architect Hidetsugu Aneha.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The ministry will inspect the 48 companies by the end of the year and instruct prefectural governments to do the same for 68 similar inspection firms that have been approved by governors.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>EHomes, which was not included in the survey, was inspected between Thursday and Friday.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Meanwhile, sources said Monday the president of Huser Ltd., a condominium developer involved in the safety scandal, sent a letter and two faxes to the land ministry asking for financial support.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The land ministry first received the letter via mail Nov. 10, one day after Huser President Susumu Ojima, 52, visited the ministry. The same letter was then faxed to the ministry on two other occasions.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The message, addressed to land minister Kazuo Kitagawa, stated the government should be held responsible for failing to check the structural integrity of buildings whose designs were based on falsified quake-resistance data provided by architect Hidetsugu Aneha.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Ojima also said it would be 'difficult' to buy back all the structures it built that are involved in the scandal, and that if the government failed to lend its support, the company might face bankruptcy. </PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Although Ojima had previously refused to buy back condominiums built with falsified quake-resistance data, saying only that his firm was prepared to rebuild or repair them, he said Saturday that Huser would buy back all the affected complexes.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Speaking to reporters, Ojima said, 'If condominium residents request buybacks, there is no way to refuse.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>However, the Tokyo-based company did not explain how it would obtain the funds needed for the purchases.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Residents of a Kawasaki complex built by Huser are refusing to accept the builder's buyback offer, saying if the firm fails, they would not receive any money and would have to shoulder the debts.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>But on Monday, the Kawasaki Municipal Government ordered the residents to vacate, citing the safety provisions of the Building Standard Law.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>On Nov. 15, Ojima was introduced to the division chief in charge of building regulations at the land ministry by Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Kosuke Ito. At the meeting, Ojima is alleged to have urged the official not to reveal the scandal to the public.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>On Nov. 22, he also visited the land ministry without an appointment, asking the government for financial support, including loans to the company, arguing the government should be held liable for not uncovering the data falsification.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Ito, a House of Representatives member who served as chief of the former National Land Agency from 1996 to 1997, told reporters he introduced Ojima to the official because he 'thought they needed to discuss the background of the case and measures to be taken.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>On Nov. 17, the ministry revealed that Aneha had falsified data on quake resistance on at least 20 condominium complexes and one hotel in Tokyo and Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures. The full extent of the quake-proofing scandal remains unclear. </PARAGRAPH> <SUBHEAD> Nara hotels closed</SUBHEAD> <PARAGRAPH> NARA –

The Nara Prefectural Government said Monday that two hotels in the prefecture were built using false data from Aneha Architect Design Office.

The hotels are the Sun Hotel Nara in the city of Nara, and Sun Hotel Yamato-Koriyama in Yamato-Koriyama.

The hotels could collapse if hit by a 6-plus quake on the 7-tier Japanese seismic intensity scale, the prefecture said.

The Sun Hotel Nara, a 12-story building that opened Nov. 5., closed Friday.

The Sun Hotel Yamato-Koriyama, which was designed by a local architect and built by a local contractor, suspended business Sunday.