US indicts 3 Japanese auto parts execs for price-fixing

Washington (AFP) - The United States indicted one current and two former executive of Japanese parts firm Bridgestone Tuesday for conspiring to fix the prices of rubber parts used in US-made automobiles.

A federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, issued the indictment accusing Yoshiyuki Tanaka, Yasuo Ryuto and Isao Yoshida of plotting with other companies to set prices and stifle competition in sales of anti-vibration rubber parts sold to Japanese automakers in the United States between 2001 and 2008.

Tanaka currently works for Bridgestone while Yoshida and Ryuto are former executives of the company.

Each faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

In February Bridgestone agreed to plead guilty and pay a $425 million fine in the case.

Bridgestone is one of 26 companies, mostly Japanese, which have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the Justice Department's broad, multi-year investigation into price fixing in the auto parts sector. In addition, 32 people have been charged in the case.

The companies have agreed to pay $2.3 billion in fines.