[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The detention warrant for a KT subsidiary executive, who was charged with leading bid-rigging in the dedicated line business for the public sector, requested by the prosecution, has been dismissed.
On the 14th, Judge Kim Tae-gyun, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, held a pre-trial detention hearing for Han (57), an executive of a KT subsidiary, and dismissed the detention warrant requested by the prosecution.
Judge Kim stated, "Although a significant portion of the criminal allegations has been substantiated, there is room for dispute regarding the suspect's specific role and degree of involvement," and "Considering the content and extent of the evidence collected so far and the progress of the investigation, it is difficult to see that the suspect poses a risk of destroying evidence or fleeing solely because he denies the criminal allegations," explaining the reason for dismissal.
Han is suspected of colluding with other telecommunications companies to favor a certain company during the bidding process for dedicated lines in the public sector, including the National Science and Technology Research Network backbone line construction project ordered by the Public Procurement Service in November 2015. Han previously served as head of KT's Public Customer Headquarters and moved to a subsidiary this year.
The Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Min-hyung) requested Han's detention warrant on the 10th on charges of violating the Fair Trade Act and bid interference.
The prosecution received a complaint from the Korea Fair Trade Commission stating that KT and two other telecommunications companies colluded by taking turns favoring specific companies in 12 dedicated line bids ordered by public institutions from April 2015 to June 2017, and has been conducting an investigation.
On the 1st of last month, two former KT executives and KT Corporation were indicted, and subsequently, the KT Gwanghwamun headquarters was raided to conduct additional investigations on the persons responsible for each colluded project.
A dedicated line is a communication line that connects specific points desired by the subscriber under a dedicated contract and is exclusively used by that subscriber. Public institutions use it for stable communication connections. In the case of the National Science and Technology Research Network backbone line, it connects the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information with 16 universities and research institutes nationwide.
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