JAKARTA (Kyodo) Indonesia's antimonopoly agency on Wednesday ordered Mitsubishi Corp. to pay a 15 billion rupiah ($1.7 million) fine for allegedly engaging in unhealthy business competition and acquiring confidential data from a competitor about an LNG project on the island of Sulawesi.
The Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition said Mitsubishi engaged in a "conspiracy" with three other firms in the LNG consortium to win a contract to build a storage facility for the gas in Central Sulawesi Province.
Aside from Mitsubishi, the so-called Donggi-Senoro LNG consortium consists of the state oil and gas company PT Pertamina and private energy company PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk., via subsidiary PT Medco E&P Tomori Sulawsi.
During a hearing, a panel of the commission, based in Jakarta, ruled there had been "a conspiracy by Mitsubishi Corp., PT Pertamina and PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk. to arrange and or determine Mitsubishi Corp. as the winner of the beauty contest, an act that has caused unhealthy business competition."
The panel also found there was "a conspiracy by Mitsubishi Corp., PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk and PT Medco E&P Tomori Sulawesi to get information of the business activities of its competitor PT LNG Energi Utama that was classified as the company's secret to make a beauty contest proposal."