Prosecutors Summarily Indict 9 Companies for Bid Rigging in Transport of Imported Agricultural Products Stockpiled for 12 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Transportation companies that have colluded in the bidding process for government stockpiled imported agricultural products transportation services for over 10 years have been summarily indicted in large numbers.

The Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Ko Jin-won) announced on the 25th that nine transportation companies, including CJ Logistics and Lotte Global Logistics, have been summarily indicted with fines for violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (bid rigging and volume allocation).

These companies are accused of colluding a total of 60 times from March 2006 to January 2018 during the bidding process for transportation services of stockpiled imported agricultural products such as rice, potatoes, and onions, ordered by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation. They allegedly prearranged the winning bidders, bid prices, and allocated transportation volumes. The prosecution stated that the contract amount concluded through their collusion reached 60.5 billion KRW.

It was investigated that they participated in the bids by preselecting the expected winning company and the supporting companies, then distributed the transportation volumes evenly according to agreements to share profits.

After the introduction of the qualification review system in 2014, which made it difficult to predict the winning bidder, it was found that they continued the crime by prearranging to evenly distribute transportation volumes regardless of which company won the bid.

Previously, the Fair Trade Commission, which investigated the case, imposed fines ranging from 300 million to 500 million KRW on 12 businesses involved in the collusion and issued corrective orders. Considering the degree of involvement, nine of these companies were reported to the prosecution.