Mitsuba Corp., fined after pleading guilty in price-fixing conspiracy
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, 6 p.m. — Nine companies based in Japan — including Mitsuba Corp., parent company of Mitsuba Bardstown — and two company executives pled guilty in September to price-fixing auto parts they manufactured and supplied to U.S. automakers.
The nine companies allegedly conspired individually to fix the prices on more than 30 different parts sold to a wide range of automakers in the U.S., including Chrylser, Ford, General Motors and the U.S. subsidiaries of Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Subaru. The companies and two executives agreed to pay more than $740 million in criminal fines for their roles in separate conspiracies to fix the price of the parts they manufactured
According to the Justice Department, Mitsuba Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric conspired together and with other unnamed co-conspirators on certain sales of starter motors.
According to a two-count felony charge, Mitsuba and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy, by agreeing during meetings and conversations, to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of windshield washer systems and components, windshield wiper systems and components, starter motors, power window motors, and fan motors it sold to Chrysler, Honda, Subaru, Nissan and Toyota in the United States and elsewhere.
According to the charge, Mitsuba and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy from January 2000 until February 2010. Mitsuba also agreed to plead guilty to one count of obstruction of justice, because of the company’s efforts to destroy evidence ordered by a high-level U.S.-based executive after learning of the U.S. investigation of collusion in the auto parts industry.
Mitsuba manufactures and sells numerous automotive parts to automobile manufacturers throughout the world. The affected auto parts perform an array of functions in automobiles. Windshield washer and wiper systems include a number of components and are designed to clear water or snow from vehicle windows.
“These international price-fixing conspiracies affected more than $5 billion in automobile parts sold to U.S. car manufacturers, and more than 25 million cars purchased by American consumers were affected by the illegal conduct,” said Attorney General Eric Holder through of Department of Justice press release.
The other companies’ and executives’ agreed-upon fines and sentences include:
• Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. to pay a $195 million criminal fine;
• Jtekt Corporation to pay a $103.27 million criminal fine;
• Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) to pay a $190 million criminal fine;
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to pay a $14.5 million criminal fine;
• NSK Ltd. to pay a $68.2 million criminal fine;
• T.RAD Co. Ltd. to pay a $13.75 million criminal fine;
• Valeo Japan Co. Ltd. to pay a $13.6 million criminal fine;
• Yamashita Rubber Co. Ltd. to pay a $11 million criminal fine;
• Tetsuya Kunida, a Japanese citizen and former executive of a U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-based automotive anti-vibration rubber products supplier to serve 12 months and one day in a U.S. prison, and to pay a $20,000 criminal fine; and
• Gary Walker, a U.S. citizen and former executive of a U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-based automotive products supplier to serve 14 months in a U.S. prison, and to pay a $20,000 criminal fine.
The companies and individuals are charged with price-fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries maximum penalties of a $100 million criminal fine for corporations and a $1 million criminal fine and 10 years in prison for individuals.
Additionally, Mitsuba was also charged with obstruction of justice, which carries a maximum penalty of a $500,000 criminal fine.
The charges are the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by each of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI. The charges were brought by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office, New York Office, the National Criminal Enforcement Section, and the FBI’s Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, New York and Washington Field Offices, with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit.
-30-
