Another Guilty Plea on Wiring Harness Price Fixing

Tokyo-based Fujikura Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty in U.S. federal court to a felony charge of conspiring to fix prices of automotive wiring harnesses from 2006 to 2010. The supplier will pay a $20 million fine.

In January, Japan's Fair Trade Commission ordered Fujikura to pay a 1.1 billion-yen ($14 million) fine for the same offense.

The company is the fifth to plead guilty in the U.S. of participating in the bid-rigging scheme. The others and the fines they paid are Denso ($78 million), Furukawa Electric ($200 million), G.S. Electech ($3 million) and Yazaki ($470 million.) Seven executives from those companies have been sentenced to U.S. prison terms of one to two years.

The charges are the result of an ongoing investigation of auto suppliers by government authorities in Europe, Japan and the U.S.