MOL Logistics pays $1.84 million for fee fixing

   Japanese freight forwarder MOL Logistics (Japan) Co. Ltd. on Friday agreed to plead guilty and pay a $1.84 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix certain fees in connection with the provision of forwarding services for air cargo shipments from Japan to the United States, the Justice Department said.
   According to a charge filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, MOL Logistics engaged in a conspiracy with others to fix and impose certain forwarding service fees, including fuel surcharges and various security fees, charged to customers for air cargo forwarding services from Japan to the United States from about September 2002 until at least November 2007.
   Under the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, MOL Logistics has also agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing antitrust investigation.
   MOL Logistics is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum $100 million fine for corporations.  The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
   Including MOL Logistics, 13 companies have agreed to plead guilty and nearly $100 million in criminal fines have been obtained as a result of the Justice Department Antitrust Division’s ongoing freight forwarding investigation.  
   On Sept. 28, six companies – Kintetsu World Express Inc., Hankyu Hanshin Express Co. Ltd., Nippon Express Co. Ltd., Nissin Corp., Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co. Ltd., and Vantec Corp. – agreed to plead guilty to similar antitrust violations committed between September 2002 until at and November 2007.