Aomori City suspends the appointment of Kintwo for 9 months due to corona collusion-Exploring the application of different guidelines even though it is 15 days behind the other four companies
On June 19, 2024, Aomori City announced that Japan Tourist will be suspended from public works for nine months in a bid-rigging case in the transportation of new coronavirus patients in FY2022. This follows the announcement of four other travel giants on June 5. We asked Aomori City why.
The issue began in November 2023 when the Japan Fair Trade Commission conducted a survey of five major travel companies (Japan Tourist, JTB, Meitetsu Kanko Service, Tobu Top Tours, and Japan Travel Tohoku) On-site inspection It starts with: As a result of subsequent investigations, on May 30 this year, the Japan Fair Trade Commission issued a cease and desist order for violating the Antimonopoly Act to four companies except Japan Tourist.
In response to this order, on June 5, Aomori City suspended JTB and Meitetsu Kanko Service for 18 months, and Japan Travel Tohoku and Tobu Top Tours for 9 months. The impact of this has now exceeded Aomori Prefecture, and municipalities nationwide have suspended nominations. Spreading 。 However, Japan Tourist was not subject to suspension of appointment because it self-reported bid-rigging before the on-site inspection by the Japan Fair Trade Commission and received an application for reduction or exemption from surcharges.
When the Good Travel News editorial department asked Japan Tourist about advance declaration on June 15, he said, "Last year, many corona-related projects of local governments nationwide Overbilling Cases was discovered, In-house inspections At that time, we found an inappropriate case in the business of Aomori City, and we reported it to the public collector's office." In addition, he replied that "(the time of declaration) was before the on-site inspection," and that it was unclear whether the self-declaration led to the on-site inspection.
On the other hand, in the transportation of new coronavirus patients in which bid-rigging took place, Japan Tourist signed a direct contract with Aomori City and allocated part of the work to other travel agencies without notifying the city. This transaction was once again regarded as a problem, leading to the suspension of the bidding nomination.
The punishment against Japan Tourist by Aomori City this time was suspended at a different timing than the other four companies. When I asked the Aomori City Contract Division, they explained, "Based on the city's nomination suspension guidelines, we have determined that the previous four companies were in violation of the Antimonopoly Act, and that the two companies were fraudulent and dishonest." It is unclear whether the impact of Aomori City's decision will spread to municipalities in the prefecture and nationwide, but Aomori Prefecture has already announced the suspension of nominations for up to 12 months.
On June 14, KNT-CT Holdings, the parent company of Japan Tourist, released the final version of the progress of measures to prevent recurrence, which it has been announcing sequentially since September last year regarding the problem of overbilling in corona projects at local governments nationwide. disclosure It does.
