By Andrew Longstreth

NEW YORK, Jan 8 (Reuters) - For antitrust authorities around the world, 2012 was a banner year as they racked up record criminal fines, according to a new report.

In the United States, the Justice Department obtained an estimated $1.13 billion in fines from antitrust offenders in fiscal year 2012, the most ever, according to the report, which was prepared by the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

That figure, which surpassed the $1 billion in fines collected in the 2009 fiscal year, was mostly due to an investigation into the auto parts industry. More than half of the fines collected came from companies targeted in the probe, which the Justice Department has said was its biggest ever. Other large fines came from companies swept up in a government probe of price-fixing of liquid crystal displays and an investigation into bid-rigging in the municipal bond market.

Another record was set by the European Commission, which imposed the largest fine ever in its history, $1.97 billion against seven companies for their participation in an alleged conspiracy to fix prices for TV and computer monitor cathode ray tubes. Competition authorities in India also levied their largest fine in 2012, $1.1 billion against 11 cement manufacturers.

Big numbers in criminal fines are expected to continue this year, according to Gibson Dunn. A major contributor may be China, which signed an agreement to cooperate more with antitrust authorities in Europe and which has launched its first investigation into cartel activity outside the country.

"These developments, coupled with the introduction of investigations in extraterritorial conduct, may mark a new period of aggressive enforcement of global cartel activity," according to the report.

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