A company president acted as a go-between in a Kawasaki public works bidding case, relaying minimum price limits to bidders, Kanagawa prefectural police said on the 5th. Police suspect the president repeatedly shared price information with about 15 companies in the industry group. The same day, police referred the group's secretariat chief to prosecutors on suspicion of violating the Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Groups — specifically obstruction of bidding — and will question the president voluntarily.
The man referred to prosecutors is Shinichiro Shinozaki, 78, secretariat chief of the Kawasaki Painting Industry Association, a general incorporated association. Police concluded he conspired with Takao Sekiguchi, 59, who was arrested on suspicion of leaking the price of painting and waterproofing work put out for general competitive bidding in 2024.
The case began with the arrest of a city department manager accused of passing prices for city-ordered work to the association's secretariat chief, a former city official. The flow described by police runs through that relationship: city hall to a retired official now running an industry body, and from there to the companies that bid.
The fixer's role
According to the account given to police, the president of a member company carried the minimum price limit to bidding firms. That figure is set by the city and kept from bidders until the auction closes; passing it along lets a company bid just above the floor and still win.
Police suspect the information moved repeatedly among roughly 15 association members. Investigators are treating the president's position as that of a coordinator rather than a single leak.
The referral of Shinozaki is on suspicion of obstructing bidding. Police have not said whether he has admitted to the allegations.