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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 1, 1993                   TAG: 9301110313
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: HOLIDAY   
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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IN BUSINESS

Company must pay for overcharging

WASHINGTON - Matsushita Electric Corp. of America will pay $1.8 million to settle claims that Panasonic overcharged the government for the purchase of typewriters and copiers, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The government alleged that Panasonic Communications & Systems Co., an unincorporated division of Matsushita Electric, failed to disclose pricing data in negotiating contracts with the General Services Administration.

Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Gerson, head of the Justice Department's civil division, said the government alleged that Matsushita falsely certified that it had provided the federal government with the same discounts offered to state governments, but it had not done so.

Mortgage rates show slight increase

WASHINGTON - Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 8.14 percent this week, up from 8.13 percent last week, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.36 percent, down from 5.38 percent last week.

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