"7.5 Trillion Won Detected in Bid Rigging by Companies Awarded Contracts from Public Institutions under the Ministry of Industry over 5 Years"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] It has been revealed that the amount detected for bid-rigging in projects ordered by public institutions under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy over the past five years has reached 7.5 trillion won.

On the 2nd, Lee Jang-seop, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized, "The issue of bid-rigging among companies in projects ordered by public institutions continues without end."

According to an analysis of data received from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy by Rep. Lee, the amount detected for bid-rigging in projects ordered by public institutions under the ministry over the past five years (2016-2020) reached 7.5 trillion won. The total fines for 46 cases of bid-rigging during this period amounted to 829 billion won.

This year, the detection of bid-rigging by companies increased compared to previous years. There were 10 cases in 2016, 12 in 2017, 6 in 2018, 5 in 2019, and 13 in 2020.

The detected amounts were 4.342 trillion won in 2016, 964 billion won in 2017, 896.1 billion won in 2018, 31.2 billion won in 2019, and 1.36 trillion won in 2020.

The annual fines recorded were 416.8 billion won in 2016, 175.8 billion won in 2017, 42.8 billion won in 2018, 3.3 billion won in 2019, and 190 billion won in 2020.

The institution with the highest detected amount and fines over the past five years was Korea Gas Corporation, with a bid amount of 4.452 trillion won and fines of 500.6 billion won. Among these, 13 companies colluded in bidding, and the detected amount for the LNG storage tank construction project detected in April 2016 was 3.5495 trillion won, with fines alone amounting to 351.6 billion won.

The largest detected amounts by year were 808.5 billion won for Korea Gas Corporation's main pipeline pipe purchase in 2017, 705.2 billion won for Korea Electric Power Corporation's ready-mix concrete in 2018, 692.9 billion won for KEPCO's concrete (PHC) piles in 2016, 667 billion won for Korea East-West Power's centrifugal concrete piles (PHC) purchase in 2020, and 656.3 billion won for Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power's centrifugal concrete piles (PHC) purchase bid in 2020.

The institution with the most detected cases of bid-rigging in ordered projects was Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, with 10 cases detected over five years. Next were Korea Gas Corporation and Korea District Heating Corporation with 6 cases each, and KEPCO with 4 cases of bid-rigging confirmed.

Rep. Lee stated, "Recently, cases of bid-rigging by companies have started to increase again, destroying market order and eliminating fair competition," adding, "Public institutions claim to establish recurrence prevention systems whenever incidents occur, but the problems have yet to be resolved."

He continued, "At the ministry level, an AI-based bid-rigging detection system should be developed and distributed to eradicate bid-rigging issues in affiliated institutions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.