If there is one thing for sure in Japan it’s this: Shake any tree where you find major corporate wrongdoing and soon you will be up to your hips in sleazy politicians. The Aneha construction scandal seems to be no exception to this rule.

As we reported earlier on these pages, Architect Hidetsugu Aneha has admitted that he falsified structural strength data on 20 condominium buildings and one hotel. The buildings in question may collapse even if only a moderate earthquake hits the Tokyo region. I saw another report on the TV that said one building is so poorly constructed, it may collapse someday under the combined weight of its inhabitants and their furniture, even if no earthquake occurs!

Now we receive word that Kosuke Ito, a powerful member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, may have lobbied on behalf of a developer who constructed some of the buildings that have been found to be improperly designed by Aneha.

Ito, who once served as director general of the National Land Agency, visited the director of the ministry’s construction supervision division with Huser Management Ltd. President Susumu Kojima on Nov. 15, two days before the ministry disclosed the scandal.

“It’d be a problem if the company had to dismantle buildings (constructed based on falsified quake-resistance data),” the bureaucrat quoted President Kojima as telling him.

“Would you please consider his request?” Ito then told the division director.

The director said he rejected the request. “The safety of the residents is the top priority.”

When queried about the visit, Ito of course denied the allegations, claiming, “I never received any reward from him.”

The plot thinkens

The Daily Yomiuri reported yesterday that architect Hidetsugu Aneha named Huser Management Ltd. as one of three construction firms (the other two are Kimura Construction Company of Kumamoto and Shinoken Company of Fukuoka) that told him to reduce the amount of reinforcing steel in his calculations.

All three companies deny the allegations.

UPDATE - 11/27/2005: Huser president asks ministry official to hide scandal

The Japan Times is reporting that during the meeting arranged byLiberal Democratic Party lawmaker Kosuke Ito, Huser President Susumu Ojima attempted to convince government officials to keep the building design scandal under wraps.

During the Nov. 15 meeting, Huser President Susumu Ojima — who was introduced to the ministry official by Ito as a “friend who wants help” — asked the official not to reveal the scandal, according to sources close to the case.

But on Saturday, Ojima denied he asked the ministry to bury the scandal, although admitting Ito had arranged the meeting with the official, who is at the division-chief level and deals with government instructions on buildings.

Ito, a House of Representatives member who served as chief of the former National Land Agency from 1996 to 1997, told reporters he introduced Ojima to the official because he “thought they needed to discuss the background of the case and measures to be taken.”

Huser, which was involved in the devopmnet of seven of the 13 condominiums whose designs are being questioned, has been a financial supporter of the LDP’s Ito in the past.

During the Nov. 15 meeting, Ojima asked the ministry not to publicize the scandal, saying, “The government should also be held responsible because the building plans had been approved by the government-designated body, eHomes Inc.,” according to the sources close to the case.

The president also asked the government to use taxpayers’ money to help the firm rebuild defective condominiums and deal with other claims that would arise from the scandal, the sources said.

The official told Ojima the ministry would “deal with the issue in line with the law,” citing the government policy to place priority on the safety of residents, the sources said.