[서울신문] FTC, accusations against four companies for’fixing scrap iron by steelmakers’… Investigation interfering staff to the prosecution

Accusation of 4 serious suspects out of 7 companies
‘Investigation Interference’ corporation and 3 employees
“The first case of accusation of interfering with investigation”

Among the steelmakers who participated in the steel scrap (scrap metal) purchase collusion, four serious charges were charged with the prosecution. In addition, a steelmaker who interfered with the investigation was also accused by the corporation and employees.

The Fair Trade Commission announced on the 17th that it has decided to accuse the prosecution of four steelmakers including Hyundai Steel, Yamato Korea Holdings, Korea Steel, and Daehan Steel for collusion.

Prior to this, the FTC issued a correction order and a penalty of 3000 for 7 companies, including Hyundai Steel, Dongkuk Steel, Daehan Steel, Y Case Steel, Hankuk Steel, Korea Steel, and Korea Special Steel, which fixed the standard price of purchasing iron scrap, a raw material for steel products such as rebar. It was charged KRW 83 million. They were accused of agreeing on the extent and timing of changes in the base price over an eight-year period from 2010 to 2018. However, in connection with the prosecution’s accusation, it was decided through deliberation at an additional plenary session in order to select a clear subject of criminal punishment.

Accordingly, the Fair Trade Commission finally decided to select four companies with significant and obvious violations of the law and file a complaint with the prosecution. Yamato Korea Holdings is the successor of YKESTIL, who led the collusion. An official from the FTC explained, “The decision was made in consideration of the duration of the collusion, the influence in the relevant market, the effect of restricting competition, and whether to cooperate with the FTC investigation.”

Furthermore, SeAH Besteel Co., Ltd. did not receive any sanctions related to collusion, but the corporation and three employees were accused of interfering with the investigation. The FTC conducted a field investigation on the Seoul headquarters and Gunsan plant around 10:30 am on May 14 last year on suspicion that SeAH Besteel was also involved in the collusion, and issued a’investigation commencement letter’ and a’request for preservation of computer and vision data’. Was issued.

However, the material management staff working at the Gunsan factory shred one of his diaries and one work notebook by using a document shredder around 12:20 p.m. on the day the field investigation began. Steel scrap-related business documents were also concealed in a separate place. The next day, the employees also had the computer service company’s employees update the Windows operating system for work PCs, and in the process, the storage devices in the PC were formatted (initialized). An official from the FTC said, “Even though the official letter of initiation of the investigation and the request for preservation were issued, the removal of the related data constitutes an obvious act of interfering with the investigation.” As a result, SeAH Besteel was excluded due to lack of evidence on the alleged collusion with seven companies. In addition, the FTC imposed a fine of 6 million won each for three former and current employees of Hyundai Steel, who refused to comply with the FTC’s request for attendance without justifiable reasons. The FTC explained that these were participants related to the purchase and collusion of scrap metal or were the subject of investigation with reported circumstances.

An official from the Fair Trade Commission said, “The accusation against the conduct of interfering with investigation is the first case taken since April 2017, when the relevant regulations were introduced,” and said, “We plan to take a strict response to collusion that hinders the competitive order of the market.”

Reporter Sejong Na Sang-hyun [email protected]