P. M. BRIEFING : Japan Begins Bid-Rigging Probe
Japan’s Fair Trade Commission is investigating Japanese companies over allegations they rigged bids for equipment orders at a U.S. Navy base near Tokyo, an official for the watchdog agency said today.
The official said the FTC launched probes at more than 20 offices of an undisclosed number of Japanese companies that allegedly colluded to win orders from the Navy base at Yokosuka to install and maintain telecommunications equipment, he said.
“We are checking whether those companies violated the anti-monopoly law,” he said.
In December, 1988, the FTC fined 70 Japanese firms about 290 million yen ($2 million) for conspiring to fix bids for projects at the Yokosuka base from 1984 to 1987.
The United States has repeatedly said bid-rigging is a longstanding practice that acts as a trade barrier mainly in the Japanese construction market.
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