The U.S. Justice Department on Nov. 10 charged three former Asian electronics executives with conspiring to fix the prices of color display tubes (CDT) used in computer monitors. Lee Seung-Kyu, Yang Yeong-Ug and Kim Jae-Sik, were described as residents of South Korea in the indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in San Francisco.
They could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of one million dollars each if convicted.
Their CDT manufacturing companies were not identified in the indictment and were referred to only as a South Korean company and a "company incorporated in the Netherlands" with headquarters in Hong Kong.
The three former executives were accused of conspiring to "suppress and eliminate competition by fixing prices, reducing output and allocating market shares of CDTs to be sold in the United States and elsewhere."
It said they took part in the alleged conspiracy between January 2000 and March 2006, meeting in Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, China and elsewhere.
"As part of the conspiracy, Lee, Yang, Kim and co-conspirators exchanged CDT sales, production, market share and pricing information for the purpose of implementing, monitoring and enforcing their agreements," the department said.
Three other Asian electronics executives have already been indicted in the United States in connection with the CDT case.
Twenty-one executives and eight companies, including firms from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, have been charged in a separate case with conspiring to fix the prices of liquid crystal display panels used in computer monitors, mobile phones, televisions and other electronic devices.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
