Japanese car part maker INOAC Corp. fined $1.3 million for bid-rigging

OTTAWA – Japanese car parts manufacturer INOAC Corp. has been fined $1.3 million by Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice after it pleaded guilty to rigging bids.

The Competition Bureau says its investigation determined that INOAC entered into illegal agreements with a competing Japanese parts manufacturer to determine who would win calls for bids issued by Toyota in 2004 for the supply of plastic interior car parts.

The parts were used in Toyota Corollas manufactured and sold in Canada between 2008 and 2014.

The guilty plea concludes the bureau’s investigation of international bid-rigging by car parts suppliers that has led to 13 guilty pleas and fines totalling more than $86 million.

The sum includes three of the largest bid-rigging fines ever imposed by Canadian courts —$30 million to Yazaki Corp., $13.4 million to Mitsubishi Electric and $13 million to Showa Corp.