Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-yeol Accused... Hoban Construction Says "Simple Mistake, Not Intentional"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Regarding the Fair Trade Commission's decision on the 17th to file a complaint with the prosecution against Hoban Construction Chairman Kim Sang-yeol for violating the obligation to submit data related to affiliates of the corporate group, Hoban Construction claimed it was a "simple clerical error, not intentional."

The Fair Trade Commission announced that it detected and reported to the prosecution that Chairman Kim Sang-yeol, the same person (head) of Hoban Construction, omitted 13 companies held by relatives and 2 relatives themselves while submitting data for designation as a large corporate group.

According to the Fair Trade Commission, Chairman Kim omitted 9 companies including Cheongyeon Investment in 2017, Yeongam Mart Unnam Branch from 2017 to 2020, Segi Sangsa in 2018, and 2 companies including Samin Enterprise from 2019 to 2020. Additionally, 2 relatives were omitted from 2018 to 2020, submitting data that did not reflect the facts.

In response, Hoban Construction stated that the omission of some relatives and companies was a simple clerical error, not intentional, and that they explained this multiple times during the Fair Trade Commission's investigation and review process, but it was regrettable that this was not reflected in the final decision.

According to Hoban Construction, after submitting the designation data, they discovered the omitted reporting targets through an internal investigation and actively corrected the issue by reporting the inclusion of affiliates. They also emphasized that they are continuing efforts to comply with regulations by reorganizing related departments and increasing personnel responsible for submitting designation data.

In particular, Hoban Construction explained that the omitted companies did not have a single share held by the same person (head). They argued that legally, it is controversial to consider companies as part of the corporate group solely because relatives hold shares, even if there is no shareholding relationship with the same person.

A Hoban Construction official said, “If only relatives hold shares, it is practically impossible to identify whether shares are held or whether the company exists unless those relatives inform the same person about the matter. Therefore, in this case, it is appropriate to see that there is a legitimate reason for the omission of data submission.”

Hoban Construction stated that they will carefully review the detailed contents of the Fair Trade Commission’s decision and sincerely participate in the upcoming investigations, striving to comply with the Fair Trade Act and related laws.

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