WASHINGTON (AFP)--An executive with Hitachi Displays Ltd. was
charged Tuesday with participating in a conspiracy to fix the
prices of Liquid Crystal Display panels, the U.S. Justice
Department said.
Sakae Someya, a Japanese national, was indicted by a federal
grand jury in San Francisco and charged with conspiring to fix the
prices of LCD panels sold to U.S. computer maker Dell Inc. (DELL)
for use in notebook computers, the department said.
"Today, the department is holding a high-level executive
accountable for his conduct," acting assistant attorney general
Scott Hammond said in a statement.
Hitachi Displays Ltd. agreed March 10 to pay a $31-million fine
for its role in the conspiracy to fix LCD prices and the Justice
Department has meted out fines to three other Asian electronics
firms for their roles.
Someya is the eighth Asian electronics executives indicted in
connection with the case. Four of them have pleaded guilty and been
sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to nine months.
If convicted, Someya could face a fine of $1 million and up to
10 years in prison.
The Justice Department has imposed fines totaling $585 million
on South Korea's LG Display Co. Ltd. (034220.SE), Japan's Sharp
Corp. (6753.TO) and Taiwan's Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. in
connection with the case.
LG Display, formerly known as LG Philips LCD Co. Ltd, agreed in
November to pay a fine of $400 million. Chunghwa was fined $65
million, while Sharp agreed to pay a $120 million fine.
The fine levied on LG Display was the second-largest after the
record antitrust fine of $500 million handed down against Swiss
pharmaceutical giant F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. in 1999 for fixing
vitamin prices.