Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) has decided to fight criminal cartel charges it has been accused of in Australia.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has revealed it has charged K Line with “alleged cartel conduct” in relation to the way it shipped cards to Australia from July 2009 to September 2012.
The ACCC had earlier nailed another Japanese line, NYK, on similar charges. NYK, unlike K Line, decided to plead guilty however.
Last year K Line was hit with a similar suit in the US for which one Japanese executive was eventually jailed for 14 months. Other cartel investigations are ongoing in Japan and Europe.
