Fair Trade Commission Conducts On-Site Investigation into SK's Alleged Preferential Catering Contracts

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an investigation into SK Group. SK Group is suspected of funneling in-house catering contracts to companies related to the family of the group’s head.

According to industry sources on the 5th, the FTC conducted on-site inspections of major affiliates such as SK Telecom, SK Energy, and SK Hynix in Seoul at the end of May.

The group catering services for these affiliates are virtually monopolized by the catering company Hunid. Hunid is a company in which Choi Young-geun, a fifth cousin of SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won, holds shares.

The FTC is reportedly investigating whether there were any unfair practices in the process of SK Group signing catering contracts with Hunid.

Earlier, in 2019, the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy reported to the FTC that Chairman Choi Tae-won and others violated the Fair Trade Act by providing unfair benefits to special related parties in relation to Hunid’s exclusive catering contracts. At that time, the organization claimed, “SK Group funneled most of the catering services for affiliate employee cafeterias to Hunid simply because it is a company of the founding family,” and added, “There is suspicion that Hunid avoided regulations on unfair business practices by reducing the founding family’s shareholding through a merger with Taeyoung Management and then transferring shares to a paper company through a complex method.”

The FTC appears to have launched the investigation into SK Group based on this report. The FTC has been monitoring and sanctioning whether large corporations have engaged in ‘funneling work’ in the catering sector, which is closely related to the daily lives of citizens and where many small and medium-sized enterprises are concentrated.

Meanwhile, on the 24th of last month, the FTC imposed a fine of 234.9 billion KRW on Samsung Group for unfairly supporting Samsung Welstory by funneling all in-house catering contracts to it. The FTC also filed charges against former Future Strategy Office chief Choi Ji-sung and Samsung Electronics with the prosecution.

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