The US Justice Department announced on 19 September 2013 that a federal grand jury had returned indictments against two executives at Fujikura Ltd, for their role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the car manufacturing sector.

Ryoji Fukudome and Toshihiko Nagashima, both Japanese citizens, are accused of attending meetings to agree to rig bids and allocate the supply of automotive wire harnesses sold to Fuji Heavy Industries for use in electrical systems in its Subaru cars sold in the US, in violation of the Sherman Act. It is alleged that these meetings were followed up with further communications to monitor and enforce the collusive agreements. Fujikara pleaded guilty to its role in the conspiracy in June 2012 and paid a USD20 million criminal fine.

The charges are the latest in the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into the automotive sector and follow the indictment entered against G. S Electech executive Shingo Okuda earlier in September 2013 (see previous blog post). The investigation has so far seen 12 companies and 15 executives plead guilty and has cost the auto industry more than USD874 million in fines and resulted in prison sentences of between a year and a day and two years. Substantial fines have also been imposed in parallel investigations in Europe, Australia, Korea, Japan and Canada. An investigation in China is expected to be opened in the coming months.

Scott Hammond, the deputy assistant attorney general of the antitrust division’s criminal enforcement programme, pledged that the Department of Justice would continue to protect US businesses and consumers by “working closely with competition enforcers abroad to ensure that there are no safe harbors for executives who engage in international cartel crimes.”