The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) on Wednesday raided East Japan Usami, Shin-Idemitsu and six other companies for allegedly forming a price-fixing cartel over diesel fuel sold to other businesses, informed sources said.
This was the first compulsory investigation by the JFTC since one conducted together with the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office in November 2022 over bid-rigging tied to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics held in 2021. The commission will consider filing a criminal complaint over the cartel.
According to the sources, the eight companies are suspected of maintaining or raising prices of diesel fuel sold in Tokyo to transportation and other companies. Their sales officials are believed to have adjusted prices per liter about once a month, the sources said.
In May this year, the FTC began on-site inspections of six of the eight on suspicion of repeated price-fixing for diesel oil in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Through the probe, the antimonopoly watchdog came to suspect that similar practices were in place in Tokyo. As the suspected cartels may have led to an increase in logistics and consumer costs, the FTC likely views the acts as malicious.
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