Taiwan executive pleads guilty in LCD price-fixing case

A former executive with Taiwan's Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. has agreed to plead guilty and serve time in a US jail for his role in a price-fixing case, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Huang Wen-Hung, Chi Mei's former director of sales, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to eliminate competition by fixing the prices of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, the department said in a statement.

Huang was accused of participating from September 2001 to December 2006 in a conspiracy to fix the prices of LCD panels, which are used in computer monitors, televisions, mobile phones and other electronic devices.

The Justice Department said Huang had entered into a plea agreement, which is subject to the approval of a US District Court in San Francisco, to serve nine months in a US jail and pay a 25,000 dollar fine.

Eighteen executives and eight companies, including firms from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, have been charged in the case and have agreed to pay fines totaling more than 890 million dollars.

(c) 2010 AFP