Guilty pleas in price-fixing case

WASHINGTON (AP):Nine Japanese auto parts manufacturers and two of their executives will plead guilty, and pay US$740 million in criminal fines for conspiring to fix the prices of more than 30 products sold to many of the world's largest automakers operating in the United States (US), the US Justice Department announced late last week.

The action is the latest development in the largest criminal investigation the Justice Department's criminal division has ever carried out. To date, it has resulted in charges against 20 companies and 21 executives, and the companies have agreed to pay US$1.6 billion in criminal fines.

From steering assemblies to seat belts, the price-fixing conspiracies went on for more than a decade, and affected more than US$5 billion in auto parts sold to US car manufacturers, and installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere. In all, more than 25 million cars purchased by American consumers have been affected by the illegal conduct.

overpriced vehicles

"As a result of these conspiracies, Americans paid more for their cars," Attorney-General Eric Holder told a news conference. Holder said American companies such as Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co, and General Motors Corp were affected, as were US subsidiaries of Honda Motor Co, Mazda Motor Corp, Mitsubishi, Nissan Motor Co, Subaru, and Toyota Motor Corp.

The government will continue to "check every hood and kick every tyre" to end the price fixing, said Holder.

Company executives used code names and met face-to-face in remote locations in the US and Japan to rig bids, fix prices, and allocate the supply of auto parts, the government alleged.

Seventeen of the 21 executives charged so far have been sentenced to serve prison terms in the US, or have plea agreements calling for significant time behind bars.

The companies charged Thursday are Hitachi Automotive Systems, Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsuba, Jtekt, NSK, T.RAD; Valeo Japan, and Yamashita Rubber.