Society

Obayashi vice president called in for questioning over suspected maglev project bid-rigging

Dec 11 (Japan Times) - Prosecutors investigating Obayashi Corp. suspect the major construction firm rigged a bid for the building of a maglev train station emergency exit, with one of the company's vice presidents brought in voluntarily for questioning about the matter, sources close to the case said Sunday.

Prosecutors searched the company's headquarters in Tokyo and other sites Friday and Saturday to investigate possible bid rigging on contracts linked to a Â¥9 trillion maglev train project linking Tokyo with Nagoya and Osaka.

In addition to the vice president who presides over Obayashi's civil engineering unit, an official at the company's Nagoya office was also questioned by prosecutors, the sources added.

Obayashi is one of the nation's four biggest construction companies. The company's civil engineering unit is mainly in charge of construction linked with the maglev train project.

The next generation high-speed train, the world's first using super-conducting magnetic levitation technology, will travel at a top speed of 500 kph (310 mph).

Obayashi has won four contracts from Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) for work with its joint venture partners from October 2015.

Of the four, the Tokyo prosecutors are investigating a contract Obayashi won jointly with Toda Corp. and JR Tokai Construction Co. in April 2016 to build an emergency exit by September 2019 for the station planned in Nagoya, the sources said.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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