Crackdown on yakuza-friendly construction companies

The Yomiuri has an article today about a crackdown on construction firms with links the organized crime:

The central and prefectural governments suspended 97 construction companies from participating in bids for public works projects in 2006 and 2007 in response to a police warning that the companies had connections to crime syndicates, according to the National Police Agency.

One company was suspended after an employee organized the funeral for a deceased gang boss. In another case, a company was punished after executives played golf and dined with the leader of a gang.

The police intend to stop gangs interfering in public works projects by uncovering ties between construction firms and organized crime even where there is no evidence that the ties have involved criminal activity.

According to the NPA, crime syndicates have boomed while regional economies have stagnated. For example, one gang made a company that had won a contract for a public works project pay it a few percent of the contract price in protection money.

Since 2004, a growing number of local governments have started to stipulate that companies with connections to gangs will be suspended from bidding for public works projects. The governments not only stipulate that any company facing criminal charges over such connections will be suspended, but also prohibit any company having ties to gangs from bidding.

In a related story, yakuza boss Tetsuya Shiroo has been sentenced to death for the killing of Nagasaki’s mayor last year. According to Reuters, Shiroo has shot the mayor because he “had developed a personal grudge against Ito because the city government had refused to lend money to his struggling construction business.”