2024-01-24 11:45:15
On the 24th, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Investigation Division 2 arrested Hidehiko Shimazaki, a ward councilor from the Liberal Democratic Party, on suspicion of violating the Official Bid-rigging Prevention Act (obstructing bids) for leaking public competitive bidding information for construction work ordered by Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward to a contractor. The suspect, 64, from Chiyoda Ward, and Izumi Yoshimura, 61, from Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, who was the ward’s administrative management manager, were arrested.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department investigators raid the Chiyoda Ward Office in Tokyo on the followingnoon of the 24th (Photo by Minoru Yasue)
◆ Suspected of leaking the minimum price limit and participating vendors for bidding for elementary school/kindergarten renovations
Just before 6 p.m. on the 24th, the 2nd Investigation Division searched the contract-related departments and councilors’ waiting rooms at the ward office with a team of regarding 20 people. Also check whether there is any return from the vendor.
According to the ward assembly office, Shimazaki submitted his resignation on the same day and it was approved. He was first elected in 2003 and served a sixth term as chairman from 2013 to 2015. According to the ward, from April 2018 to March 2020, Yoshimura served as the administrative manager in charge of contracts for construction ordered by the ward.
The arrest charges are that in April 2020, they conspired to steal information regarding the minimum price limit and the number of bidders for two public competitive bidding projects for renovation work at Ochanomizu Elementary School and Kindergarten. ) and equipment construction company Goken Kogyo (Chiyoda Ward). He has not made it clear whether he approves or disapproves.
New school building for Ochanomizu Elementary School/Kindergarten in Kanda Sarugaku-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. Photo taken by Yu Kido from the headquarters helicopter “Oozuru.”
It is said that Shimazaki, who received a request from a business, obtained information through Yoshimura and passed it on to the business.
Bidding will take place in May 2020, with a joint venture (JV) including Nippon Kanko making the air conditioning work for approximately 680 million yen (success rate of 79.9%), and a JV including Goken Kogyo making the sole bid for the water supply and drainage work. It was sold for approximately 660 million yen (99.8% of the same).
When asked by this newspaper, Nippon Kanko said, “The person in charge is unavailable and cannot respond,” and Goken Kogyo said, “We have no answer.”
Mayor Takaaki Higuchi said in a statement, “As the head of the city, I feel responsible.We will set up a third-party organization to take thorough measures to prevent recurrence.”
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◆”I’ll tell Mr. Uchida, first through me”…testimonies from those around him
A prominent ward councilor has been investigated over a bid for construction work ordered by Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. Ward councilor Hidehiko Shimazaki (64), who was arrested on the 24th by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of violating the Government Bid-rigging Prevention Act (resigned on the same day), has held important positions such as the ward chairman and the secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party faction, while he has been criticized by the business side for It was seen as a “window for the world.” (Wataru Sato, Keigo Okumura)
Building where suspect Hidehiko Shimazaki’s office is located = 23rd
Suspect Shimazaki is said to have held a “cross-industry exchange meeting” every year in Tokyo. A man who is said to be one of the promoters said, “I have a wide range of business interests.Many companies that I approached were participating, but I had never heard of any suspicions of bid rigging.”
The suspect, Shimazaki, was described as the “don of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly” and was close to former Tokyo Metropolitan Councilor Shigeru Uchida, who passed away in December 2022. One person connected to the ward administration testified that Shimazaki often told companies looking to redevelop within the ward, “I’ll tell Mr. Uchida, please go through me first. I’ll do it together with the staff.”
In the summer of 2022, an indictment was distributed within the ward accusing Shimazaki of “conveying the ward’s bidding information to plumbing contractors.” He is said to have initially told those around him, “I will never be arrested.”
However, when the Metropolitan Police Department began conducting voluntary interviews with ward employees in the fall of 2023, he continued to be absent from assembly meetings starting on October 13. The family’s soba shop, located in the building where the office is located, had also been closed since then, and when a reporter visited the day before his arrest, it was quiet.
A male ward councilor from a separate faction of the Liberal Democratic Party said, “He’s not the type of person who would cause a big problem, but…If the fraud is true, then the parliament must try to find out the truth.”
A man in his 70s who is self-employed in the ward expressed his anger, saying, “What are you bidding for? We’re just making a living as commercial and industrial operators.” A woman in her 60s tweeted that the stage of the bid-rigging was at a local elementary school and kindergarten, saying, “Even though it’s a facility for children…I was surprised and disappointed,” adding, “The police should not tell us the truth regarding the incident.” I want it.”
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◆ Former manager of the arrest department: “Mr. Shimazaki has the power, so I mightn’t refuse.”
Izumi Yoshimura (61), the ward’s former director of administrative management, was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of violating the Official Bid Rigging Prevention Act, and he responded to an interview with this newspaper in November last year. The questions and answers are as follows.
—Have you ever been asked regarding bidding information by Ward Councilor Shimazaki?
I was asked over the phone the number and names of bidders for the renovation of Ochanomizu Elementary School and Kindergarten and the construction of new public facilities in Yonbancho. So I told him. I thought it was strange, but since Mr. Shimazaki was also the chairperson and has a lot of power, I mightn’t refuse.
—What led up to the leak?
First, when I became the manager in charge, Mr. Shimazaki called me and said, “A vendor is coming to say hello, so please exchange business cards.” I exchanged business cards with regarding five companies, including Nippon Steel Corporation, at the ward office.
— Was it the ward’s practice to leak bidding information to Ward Councilor Shimazaki?
A ward executive at the time told him, “We’ve always done it this way, so please do something regarding it.” I think it’s been going on for a while.
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