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NYK hit by criminal cartel case in Australia

Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) is in trouble in Australia where the competition watchdog has launched a criminal prosection into NYK’s “cartel behaviour”, according to The Australian newspaper.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission filed a criminal indictment of NYK on Thursday. No details of the case have been revealed yet.

If found guilty, NYK faces hefty fines of up to A$10m ($7.64m), 10% of its annual turnover or three times their ill-gotten gains, whichever is larger, while individuals can be jailed for up to 10 years.

NYK has had its fair share of cartel strife of late. In March this year an NYK employee in the US was jailed for 15 months following a car carrier price fixing probe.

In March 2014 Japan’s Fair Trade Commission ordered NYK to pay Y13bn ($12.2m) on another price fixing misdemanour.

NYK has yet to respond to inquiries from Splash on the case today.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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