▲ An undated file photo of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office (Yonhap)

bid rigging-KEPCO suppliers

8 companies, 11 employees indicted for rigging KEPCO bids

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- Eight parts suppliers for Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the state power utility, and their 11 employees were referred to trials on Tuesday on charges of rigging bids worth about 670 billion won (US$454 million), the prosecution said.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said four employees from Hyosung Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Electric, LS Electric and Iljin Electric have been arrested and indicted on charges of violating the Fair Trade Act through bid rigging.

The four companies, which led the alleged collusion, and four other small and medium-sized companies that participated in the illegal practice were also indicted under the legal principle of dual punishment, the prosecution said. Seven other employees of the companies have been referred to trials without detention, it added.

The indicted companies are accused of unfairly restricting competition by colluding to set bid prices and select the successful bidders in advance in 145 bids for gas insulated switchgear ordered by KEPCO from March 2015 to September 2022.

The companies, which account for 90 percent of the nation's gas insulated switchgear market, are suspected of earning at least 160 billion won in illicit profits through the alleged bid rigging worth 677.6 billion won.

Prosecutors believe that the companies' alleged bid rigging had raised their winning bid prices for seven years and six months, thereby causing damage, such as increased electricity bills, to the general public.

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