In July 2002, a Japanese district court confirmed that it seemed likely that construction companies had rigged bids for construction orders from the US Atsugi navy base, south-west of Tokyo.
However, the Tokyo court rejected compensation claims for Y680m made by the US government against the 26 builders, saying there was inadequate evidence to prove that collusion occurred with each specific construction project.
The US has made similar accusations about bidding at other military bases, but this was the first time that a court made a ruling on the issue.
Bid rigging - known as dango - in Japan's construction industry is understood to be rampant, particularly for government-funded projects where officials disclose bidding prices to builders in exchange of favours.
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