Osaka Company Under Investigation for Building Expo Pavilion Without Permit; Representative Says Firm Was ‘Too Busy' to Submit Application
The Osaka prefectural government in July ordered the company to suspend operation for 30 days after an investigation brought to light the possibility that they may have been doing unauthorized work.
Investigators say they suspect that, around January, the company received an order for about ¥120 million to perform work, including interior construction, on the pavilion despite not obtaining the required permit from the land, infrastructure and transport minister and the Osaka governor. They also say that the company's office was closed recently, and that on Wednesday morning, the police began searching several places related to the company, including the Osaka City residence of its representative, a man in his 40s.
The Construction Business Law requires companies contracting construction work worth ¥5 million or more to obtain an operation permit. Failure to do so may be punished with up to three years in detention or a fine of up to ¥3 million.
The representative, admitting that his company contracted the work without a permit, told The Yomiuri Shimbun, 'We met the requirements to contract the work, but a former accounting person did not submit an application for that, and we were too busy to check it.'
According to the representative, the company as it currently exists was launched by several people in June last year, after they took over the corporation, which at the time was inactive. As for the Angolan pavilion work, the company first contracted the work for the interior and other parts from another construction company and then subcontracted it out to six companies. The work started in mid-February and was more or less completed by late March. The pavilion accepted visitors on the Expo's opening day on April 13, but it then closed for 'technical adjustments' and reopened on June 26.
The Yomiuri Shimbun contacted the construction company from which Iroha Kensetsu originally contracted work on the pavilion, but that company has not responded.
There are three other cases also currently under investigation by the Osaka prefectural government in which construction companies are suspected of having contracted work on foreign countries' Expo pavilions without authorization.
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