U.S. indicts two Japanese auto parts companies for bid-rigging

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Japanese auto parts companies, Tokai Kogyo Co Ltd and Maruyasu Industries Co Ltd, were indicted on Wednesday on price-fixing charges along with five executives, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The indictments arose from a long-running international antitrust probe of price-fixing in the auto parts industry that has ensnared more than 40 companies and 60 people.

In one indictment by a federal grand jury in Ohio, Tokai Kogyo and its U.S. subsidiary Green Tokai Co Ltd were accused of rigging bids for automobile weather stripping and other sealing products sold to Honda Motor Co Ltd , the department said.

A Tokai Kogyo assistant general manager, Akitada Tazumi, will also face charges, the department said in a statement.

Separately, Maruyasu Industries Co Ltd and its U.S. subsidiary were charged with rigging bids for steel tubes that automakers use in fuel distribution, braking and other parts of their cars, the department said.

Four Maruyasu sales executives - Tadao Hirade, Satoru Murai, Kazunori Kobayashi and Yoshihiro Shigematsu - also face price-fixing charges, the indictment said.

Neither of the companies nor their attorneys could be reached for comment. A lawyer for Tazumi could not be reached, while an attorney for Hirade, Murai, Kobayashi and Shigematsu declined to comment.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz and Eric Beech; editing by Eric Walsh and Dan Grebler)