Prearranged Collusion to 'Divide' US Military Contracted Construction... 7 Construction Companies Fined

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Seven domestic construction companies and their executives, who were prosecuted for pre-colluding and "dividing" contracts ordered by the U.S. military, were sentenced to fines in the first trial.

On the 10th, Judge Lee Yoo-young of the Criminal Division 3 at the Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced each of the seven construction companies, charged with violating the Construction Industry Basic Act, to a fine of 20 million KRW.

Additionally, Kim (former executive director of Construction Company A) and Yoo (former executive director of Construction Company B), who were charged with leading the collusion, were each fined 12 million KRW, Lee (former managing director of Construction Company C) was fined 7 million KRW, and four other executives from four construction companies were each fined 10 million KRW.

These companies were indicted on charges of securing bidding qualifications for construction projects ordered by the U.S. military in July 2016, then deciding the order of winning bids and coordinating bid prices, consecutively winning 23 construction projects worth a total of 43.9 billion KRW over two years and six months starting from September of the same year.

The judge explained the sentencing, stating, "This undermines procedural fairness and transparency, which is highly condemnable," but also considered "the fact that the economic loss to the ordering party was not significant and that the defendants did not personally gain any profit."

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