Tokyo, July 29 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo police have referred a former Japan Post Holdings Co. employee to prosecutors for allegedly receiving bribes linked to a post office rebuilding project in the Japanese capital, informed sources said Wednesday. Takahiro Kido, 54, is suspected of violating the Japan Post Holdings law by accepting cash and other benefits from Toa Tekko Kensetsu Co. in return for giving the steel fabrication company, based in the central Japan prefecture of Aichi, favorable treatment in bidding related to the project. The second investigation division of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department also sent papers on Yukihiro Mineta, 54, president of Toa Tekko Kensetsu, to prosecutors on suspicion of offering bribes. Investigators have not disclosed whether the two have admitted to the allegations. The MPD division suspects that Kido received 150,000 yen in cash every month, along with meals and entertainment, from the company for more than a decade, with the total value of the bribes he allegedly received estimated to have exceeded 100 million yen, the sources said. Specifically, he was referred to prosecutors on suspicion of taking bribes worth about 5 million yen, including cash and meals, between August 2023 and June 2024, from Mineta and others in exchange for lobbying contractors involved in the bidding process so that Toa Tekko Kensetsu could win subcontracted work for steel fabrication in the planned rebuilding of the Kojimachi post office in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. Kido worked in a facilities department at Japan Post and served as a group leader responsible for structural design for the project. Since around 1999, when Kido was working for a private design firm, he is believed to have been regularly wined and dined by Toa Tekko Kensetsu after becoming acquainted with the father-in-law of Mineta, a former president of the steel fabrication company. The relationship continued even after Kido moved to Japan Post and became prohibited from accepting bribes under the law. Investigators believe similar lobbying was carried out for several other construction projects commissioned by Japan Post, with the aim of favoring Toa Tekko Kensetsu. The Kojimachi post office was to be demolished and rebuilt into a building complex consisting of a post office and rental offices. The plan was later shelved, however, mainly due to soaring construction costs. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]