Naughty Shimane

[Roger's head 0]

Anyone in Shimane then?

 

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Shimane Japan's most corrupt prefecture

 

Shimane is the most corrupt of the country's 47 prefectures and 13 major cities, according to a grass roots watchdog group.

 

More than 95 percent of bids on tenders for public works projects within the prefecture exceeded originally estimated costs, suggesting considerable bid rigging, the Citizen's Ombudsman group said.

 

In contrast, only 1.5 percent of bids on huge projects in Miyagi exceeded initial budget estimations.

 

"We want to see more public tenders carried out like they are in places such as Nagano and Miyagi, where anybody at all can take part and nobody knows who has placed bids," Satoshi Shinkai, a spokesman for the group, said.

 

Citizen's Ombudsman examined public tenders on projects costing at least 100 million yen that were carried out in Japan's 47 prefectures and 13 major cities during the 2003 fiscal year.

 

Bids in Shimane exceeded estimates an incredible 97.4 percent, making it the most corrupt prefecture in the country for the second year running. Hokkaido followed closely behind, with 95.3 percent of bids blowing out over initial expectations, while Yamanashi came in third at 91.8 percent.

 

Saitama was the least transparent of the country's 13 biggest cities, with 85.7 percent of bids on large-scale public works projects exceeding estimated outlays. (Mainichi and wire reports, Aug. 2, 2004)

[brit-gob 9]

I like that - a ranking of the most corrupt.

[rach 1]

Anyone have the list of what the 13 major cities are?