Japanese auto suppliers Yazaki, Denso fined $548 mn for price fixing

Two major Japanese auto suppliers Yazaki Corp and Denso Corp, yesterday agreed to pay a total of $548 million in criminal fines for their involvement in a complex multiple price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracies, the US Justice Department (DoJ) yesterday said.

Yazaki will pay a $470 million criminal fine and four of its executives agreed to plead guilty and will serve prison sentance in the US, while Denso will has been let off with a $78-million criminal fine.

The DoJ alleges that executives of several major Japanese auto parts makers met in secret, sometimes speaking in code, to fix prices on wiring harnesses and other crucial components. It said the global conspiracy that went undetected for nearly a decade encompassed distribution centers in the US, Canada, Japan and Europe.

The global conspiracy allowed a small group of suppliers to effectively control the lucrative $30-billion market in automotive wiring, alleges the DoJ.

Earlier Furukawa Electric Company had also pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $200 million in fine for its role in the price-fixing conspiracy. Of the three of its executives who had pleaded guilty, two have been sentenced to serve prison time in the US, while the third is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

The DoJ alleges that Yazaki is involved in three separate conspiracies to rig bids and fix prices of automotive wire harnesses, instrument panel clusters and fuel senders, while Denso conspired to rig bids and fix prices of electronic control units and heater control panels, all of which are essential to the wiring, circuit boards, gauges and fuel tanks of automobiles.