Prosecutors investigating allegations of sugar price-fixing among major domestic sugar producers have requested arrest warrants for four executives and employees from Samyang Corporation and CJ CheilJedang.
According to the legal community on October 29, the Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (headed by Na Heeseok) filed pre-arrest warrants on October 27 for two executives of Samyang Corporation, surnamed Lee and Jeon, as well as Park, a division head at CJ CheilJedang, and an employee identified as A, on charges of violating the Fair Trade Act.
They are suspects who have not been detained, and a pre-arrest interrogation will be held on October 30 at the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Nam Sejin, who is in charge of warrants.
Previously, the Fair Trade Commission conducted on-site investigations into suspicions of sugar price-fixing at three of the country's largest sugar producers: CJ CheilJedang, Samyang Corporation, and Daehan Sugar.
After receiving the results of the Fair Trade Commission's investigation, prosecutors raided the three companies in September this year.
The three companies were previously found to have colluded on sugar shipment volumes and price standards for 15 years starting in 1991, ahead of the liberalization of raw sugar imports. They were fined for this misconduct. In 2007, the Fair Trade Commission imposed fines of 22.7 billion won on CJ CheilJedang, 18 billion won on Samyang Corporation, and 10.3 billion won on Daehan Sugar.
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