Norwegian shipping group Stolt-Nielsen SA was indicted by a US grand jury on Wednesday as authorities stepped up their criminal antitrust case against the company.
Stolt-Nielsen, two subsidiaries and two former executives were indicted in federal court in Philadelphia with price-fixing and bid-rigging, the Justice Department said.
The indictment comes more than two years after the Justice Department voided an agreement in which Stolt-Nielsen was promised leniency in exchange for co-operating with the department's probe into an alleged parcel shipping cartel. Parcel tanker shipping is the transportation of bulk chemicals and other specialty liquids by compartmentalised deep sea vessels.
Stolt-Nielsen said in a statement that the indictment could chill self-reporting of unlawful conduct by companies to government agencies. "It is a dark day when companies that self-report activity cannot trust the solemn promises of government prosecutors," said James Hurlock, who chairs the legal affairs committee of Stolt-Nielsen's board.
The department said it revoked the leniency deal after learning that some top Stolt-Nielsen executives had continued to meet with competitors and participate in the conspiracy for months after the scheme's discovery by Stolt-Nielsen's then-general counsel. It also contended that Stolt withheld and provided false and misleading information about the true extent of the conspiracy.
"Removing a company from the Corporate Leniency Program is not something the Division takes lightly but regrettably was necessary in this case to maintain the integrity of the program, which requires that those in the program provide full and truthful co-operation," Justice Department antitrust chief Thomas Barnett said in a statement.
Stolt-Nielsen has denied that it reneged on the leniency agreement and had asked the courts to force the department to honour the deal. But in March the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed a lower court injunction barring the Justice Department from indicting the company. Subsequent appeals to the appeals court and the US Supreme Court have so far been turned down. The investigation has previously led to guilty pleas from two other shipping companies, Norway's Odfjell and Dutch-based Jo Tankers.