US: Auto parts execs indicted for obstruction

A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan returned an indictment charging two people, a former auto parts industry executive and one executive still working in the industry, with conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation.

The indictment was filed Wednesday and charges Futoshi Higashida and Mikio Katsumaru with conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation into a bid rigging conspiracy.  Higashida is also charged with attempted obstruction of justice.  During the charged conspiracy, Katsumaru was employed by an automotive parts company in Japan, and Higashida worked there and in Novi, Michigan.

The indictment states that the defendants and their conspirators worked together to delete emails and electronic records and destroyed documents that referred to communications with industry competitors.

“Individuals will not escape prosecution by covering up or destroying evidence of their own or their company’s wrong-doing,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “Obstructing a federal antitrust investigation – criminal or civil – is a serious criminal violation that the Antitrust Division will vigorously pursue.”

Full Content: United States Department on Justice

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