Corruption probe into bidder for Liverpool stadium contract

The company bidding to build a new football stadium for both Liverpool and Everton is under investigation for corruption in Japan.

Kajima, the world's third-largest construction firm, last month put forward a plan for the two Premiership teams to share a new ground. A matter of days later, on 30 September, it was raided by officials from Japan's Fair Trade Commission probing bid-rigging in the northern city of Niigata. The FTC raided about 40 firms and Niigata city hall because it suspects the firms colluded to rig the outcome of civil engineering tenders.

The move followed a similar FTC investigation in Miy-agi Prefecture, when Kajima was accused of secretly rigging tenders for civil engineering contracts last year - by agreeing which firm would win which contract and how much it would bid. In June the FTC reprimanded 29 firms involved, including Kajima, but said it did not have enough evidence to punish them.

The latest investigations follow the jailing of former construction minister Kishiro Nakamura for corruption. In February, he lost an appeal against a conviction for taking a bribe from Kajima to put pressure on the FTC not to investigate bid-rigging in 1992.

Liverpool has been in discussions over a new ground at Stanley Park with UK contractor Carillion. But Carillion's chief executive recently said they would not build the stadium unless the two sides could agree on a price.

Officials from Liverpool and Everton are understood to have started talks with Kajima Urban Development over building a shared ground on disused land a mile north of Liverpool city centre.

Kajima's activities overseas have already caused controversy in Britain. It has won five PFI school deals in the last 18 months despite a "Stop Kajima" campaign highlighting its presence in Burma.