Thread: FBI raids 3 Japanese auto parts makers near Detroit

FBI raids 3 Japanese auto parts makers near Detroit

Tue, Feb 9 2010

DETROIT (Reuters) - The FBI raided three Detroit-area Japanese auto parts makers for a sealed federal antitrust investigation, including Toyota Motor Corp supplier Denso Corp, authorities said on Wednesday.

The raids at suppliers to Toyota came just hours before Toyota President Akio Toyoda testified at a congressional hearing on safety issues involving some of its vehicles, but Denso and a person familiar with the investigation said the searches were unrelated to Toyota's safety recalls.

The FBI's Detroit division served warrants at Denso, Yazaki North America and Tokai Rika on Tuesday evening, Special Agent Sandra Berchtold said in a statement. The substance or reason behind the warrants was not disclosed.

Berchtold said the affidavits behind the warrants were sealed in federal court.

Yazaki disclosed that FBI agents had conducted searches at facilities in Kentucky and Ohio, in addition to Michigan, suggesting that investigators had cast a wider net in searching for evidence of antitrust activity.

The U.S. Justice Department is "investigating the possibility of anti-competitive cartel conduct of automotive electronic components suppliers," Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said.

The department is coordinating its investigation with regulators in Europe, she said.

The FBI carried out searches at the North American headquarters of privately held Yazaki in Canton, Michigan, and at facilities in Lexington, Kentucky, and Columbus, Ohio, Yazaki spokeswoman Shefali Cromer said.

"We were not told the nature of the investigation," Cromer said.

Denso, which supplies accelerator pedals and other parts to Toyota, confirmed that the raid on its U.S. offices was part of an investigation into alleged antitrust violations and that it was not related to Toyota's recalls.

Denso spokeswoman Bridgette Gollinger said the company was cooperating with the investigation.

In the Detroit area, the FBI executed searches at Denso's office in Southfield, Michigan and Tokai Rika's offices in Plymouth, Michigan, as well as at Yazaki, the FBI said.

Tokai Rika confirmed the search at its Detroit offices.

The FBI raids were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki and Diane Bartz in Washington; David Bailey and Soyoung Kim in Detroit; and James Kelleher in Chicago)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61N5KZ20100225

Quote:
"The U.S. Justice Department is "investigating the possibility of anti-competitive cartel conduct of automotive electronic components suppliers," Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said."

I'm afraid this use of taxpayer money for these sorts of investigations is being driven by the strong influence the unions have over the present Administration. No foreign automaker having plants in the United States is unionized.

Although they say it is unrelated, it is unlikely that the CEO of a U.S. automaker would be required to appear before Congress to explain a mechanical malfunction of their products such as the CEO of Toyota has been.