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Japan's Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) conducted a series of raids on offices Tuesday, including on those of some international Japanese bluechips, on suspicion the companies may have been involved in rigging bids for a major utility company's contracts.
According to local media, Japan's antitrust watchdog searched the offices of Tokyo-based multinational technology equipment and services company Fujitsu Ltd. and information technology products and services provider NEC Corp., also headquartered in Japan's capital.
The JFTC said the companies are under suspicion of fixing prices pertaining to a bid for Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc., a sizable utility serving electricity throughout the Chubu region of the main Honshu island of Japan.
Local reports quoting sources close to the case, said both companies have been implicated in jointly deciding on the lowest bidder, ahead of the utility's order for communication equipment needed to monitor power output at its plants.
The fraudulent move may well have caused electricity rates passed onto the public to have been affected by the cost of the equipment, which was allegedly fixed by the two firms in question.
Japan's anti trust watchdog, in May last year, searched the offices of five companies, including both NEC and Fujitsu, in connection to an almost identical case.
The case involved bid rigging allegations for orders from the embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), owner and operator of the stricken Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, which underwent multiple meltdowns after being pummeled by and earthquake-triggered tsunami in 2011.
The latest scandal comes following both firms being selected to be Gold Partners of the Tokyo 2020 and Paralympic Games, with Fujitsu, the world's third largest IT company, being assigned the category of "Data Centre Hardware" provider, while NEC will provide valuable services in the categories of "Specialist Public Safety Equipment and Software" and "Network Equipment."
While the committee has yet to comment on the latest scandal, with no mention of whether the current case of fraud will impact the the firms' hugely lucrative sponsorship deals, Fujitsu and NEC have said separately they will both cooperate with the JFTC's ongoing investigations fully.
