Green Cross, Yuhan Corporation, and Others Acquitted in Vaccine Bid-Rigging Case

Pharmaceutical companies and their executives implicated in the vaccine bid-rigging case have been acquitted. On December 4, the Supreme Court's Second Criminal Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyungmi) upheld the lower court's verdict of not guilty for six pharmaceutical companies, including Green Cross and Yuhan Corporation, and seven executives who had been indicted for violating the Fair Trade Act (Case No. 2024Do12571).

Image to aid understanding of the article. Pixabay

[Facts]

In August 2020, prosecutors indicted six pharmaceutical companies and seven executives. According to the prosecution, the defendants colluded to fix prices in advance and used dummy companies to hinder fair competition in government bids for the cervical cancer vaccine and others from 2016 to 2019.

[Lower Court Rulings]

In the first trial, the court imposed fines ranging from 30 million to 70 million won on the six pharmaceutical companies and fines of 3 million to 5 million won on the seven executives. The first-instance court noted, "Although the defendants won the bids within the price range set by the government and thus the amount of unfair profit was not significant, they secured the bids at their offered prices without genuine competition through their concerted actions. Meanwhile, other vaccine distributors were restricted from competing as they had to participate in re-bidding procedures after failed bids."

The appellate court overturned the first-instance ruling, stating, "There is no proof of criminal conduct in the prosecution's case," and acquitted all defendants. The appeals court explained, "Only companies that have signed joint sales contracts with foreign pharmaceutical firms manufacturing the vaccines can obtain the supply commitment letter, which is a mandatory bidding document. Other pharmaceutical companies besides the defendants could not obtain this letter, so there was no actual competitive relationship."

Regarding the inclusion of dummy companies in the vaccine bidding process, the court explained, "The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency urged a swift bidding process to ensure timely vaccine supply, and it appears the defendants used dummy companies to expedite the bidding procedures."

[Supreme Court Judgment]

The Supreme Court stated, "There was no violation of the principle of free evaluation of evidence or any misunderstanding of the legal principles of the Fair Trade Act in the appellate court's decision," dismissed the prosecution's appeal, and finalized the acquittal.

Reporter Lee Sangwoo, The Law Times

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.