Diamond Electric Pleads Guilty to Bid Rigging

Osaka-based Diamond Electric Manufacturing Co. has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix the prices of ignition coils it sold to Ford, Toyota and other automakers in 2003-2010.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice has imposed a $19 million criminal fine on the company.

Separately, Takayoshi Matsunaga, an executive at Sweden's Autoliv Inc., will plead guilty to rigging bids in the U.S. He has agreed to a $20,000 fine and a sentence of a year and a day in American prison.

Autoliv pleaded guilty in June 2012 to fixing prices of airbags, seatbelts and steering wheels between 2006 and 2011.

The guilty pleas are the result of an ongoing investigation of cartel activity among auto suppliers by government authorities in Europe, Japan and the U.S.