In this 2019 file photo, the sign for the Japan Fair Trade Commission and Public Prosecutors Office is seen in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. (Mainichi/Kazuo Motohashi)

       TOKYO -- The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has notified more than 20 companies, including major printing firms, of its plan to impose a total of 1.4 billion yen (about $12 million) in fines on them over the alleged bid-rigging of pension service operations, the Mainichi Shimbun learned from a source close to the matter.

       The companies allegedly formed a ring to bid for Japan Pension Service (JPS) operations, such as creating and preparing to send periodical notices to pension fund members.

       According to the source, companies including Kyodo Printing Co, Toppan Forms Co. -- both headquartered in Tokyo -- and Osaka-based Nakabayashi Co. have been notified of the punishment proposal. The JFTC conducted on-site inspections of each firm in October 2019 on suspicion of the unfair restraint of trade, which is prohibited under the anti-monopoly act, and was investigating to assemble a picture of the scheme. The JFTC intends to hear the views of each company to finalize punishment including the issuance of exclusionary orders.

       The companies are suspected to have repeatedly colluded over the amount of order intakes and other matters when bidding for the JPS' operations such as printing and preparing to send periodical notices and bank transfer notices to pension scheme members over the past several years.

       (Japanese original by Masakatsu Yamasaki, Tokyo City News Department)

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