china fines Toyota finance arm for alleged bribery
china fines Toyota finance arm for alleged bribery
Originally Published: Monday, September 20, 2010
Updated: Monday, September 20, 2010
SHANGHAI (AP) — Authorities in eastern China say they have fined Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp.’s finance unit for giving bribes to car dealers — a charge the company is disputing.
The accusation comes at a time of rising tensions between China and Japan and amid Toyota’s effort to counter the impact of massive recalls on its sales in China by offering steep discounts and other incentives to potential buyers.
The bribes took the form of rebates meant to encourage dealers to have customers use loans from Toyota, rather than banks, to finance car purchases, Jiang Zhugen, an official at the Jianggan Administration for Industry and Commerce in the eastern city of Hangzhou, said Tuesday.
“We sent the hearing notice on last Friday, and Toyota should have received it yesterday. The final penalty decision will be made after three working days if the company does not submit an application for another hearing,” Jiang said. The charges are administrative rather than criminal.
Jiang refused to give more details about the case or say how much Toyota Finance will be fined.
“It’s hard to tell at this moment,” he said.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that authorities would fine the company 140,000 yuan ($20,650) and have confiscated 426,352 yuan ($65,500) in “illegal earnings” from 49 car sales.
Relations between Japan and China have been on a downward spiral over the detention of a Chinese fishing captain nearly two weeks ago after his boat collided with Japanese vessels near disputed islands.
Calls to the public affairs section of Toyota’s China headquarters in Beijing rang unanswered Wednesday morning.
A staffer at Toyota Motor Finance (China) Co., who like many media-shy Chinese would only give her surname, Zhang, said Toyota charges interest rates of up to 10 percent, more than 3 percentage points higher than the rate normally charged by commercial banks.
She disputed the allegation that rebates were a form of bribery, saying they were service fees paid to the dealers for introducing customers to Toyota’s finance unit.
___
Associated Press researcher Ji Chen contributed to this report.
Most popular
Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.
"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.
Humic & Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex
HerbAnomic’s Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex is a revolutionary New Humic and Fulvic Acid Complex designed to support your body at the cellular level. Our product has been thoroughly tested by an ISO/IEC Certified Lab for toxins and Heavy metals as well as for trace mineral content. We KNOW we have NO lead, arsenic, mercury, aluminum etc. in our Formula. This Humic & Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral complex has high trace levels of naturally occurring Humic and Fulvic Acids as well as high trace levels of Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, Molybdenum, Potassium and more. There is a wide range of up to 70 trace minerals which occur naturally in our Complex at varying levels. We Choose to list the 8 substances which occur in higher trace levels on our supplement panel. We don’t claim a high number of minerals as other Humic and Fulvic Supplements do and leave you to guess which elements you’ll be getting. Order Your Humic Fulvic for Your Family by Clicking on this Link , or the Banner Below.
Our Formula is an exceptional value compared to other Humic Fulvic Minerals because...
It’s OXYGENATED
It Always Tests at 9.5+ pH
Preservative and Chemical Free
Allergen Free
Comes From a Pure, Unpolluted, Organic Source
Is an Excellent Source for Trace Minerals
Is From Whole, Prehisoric Plant Based Origin Material With Ionic Minerals and Constituents
Highly Conductive/Full of Extra Electrons
Is a Full Spectrum Complex
Our Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex has Minerals, Amino Acids, Poly Electrolytes, Phytochemicals, Polyphenols, Bioflavonoids and Trace Vitamins included with the Humic and Fulvic Acid. Our Source material is high in these constituents, where other manufacturers use inferior materials.
Try Our Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex today. Order Yours Today by Following This Link.