Defense Agency chief、Fukushiro Nukaga、 speaking at the Lower House Budget Committee on Feb. 6

Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga said Feb. 1 that the Defense Facilities Administration Agency will be disbanded.

"The entity has caused a scandal of this magnitude and it has become clear that the bid-rigging was arranged systematically," Nukaga said.

"I'd like to decide on the dissolution of the entity, a step the Japanese people want us to take," he said.

Nukaga, however, said he would not resign as Defense Agency chief to take the blame for the scandal.

Prosecutors have arrested Takayoshi Kawano, who held the third-highest post at the DFAA; Kawano's predecessor, Mamoru Ikezawa, president of the Defense Facilities Technology Foundation, a Defense Agency-affiliated public body; and Takashige Matsuda, an official at the agency's general affairs department.

The three are suspected of playing leading roles in rigging bids for air conditioning projects awarded to ventures led by Taikisha Ltd., Shinryo Corp. and Sanki Engineering Co. between November 2004 and last March.

Prosecutors have searched the Tokyo head office of construction company Shimizu Corp. in connection with the alleged bid-rigging, and two other major contractors -- Kajima Corp. and Taisei Corp.-- the latter concerning rigging bids for the construction of a Self-Defense Forces hospital.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 11, 2006
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