'Fair Trade Commission Investigation Leads to Replacement of 102 PCs' Hyundai Heavy Industries Executives Acquitted "No Evidence Tampering Crime"

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries executives and employees who were prosecuted on charges of destroying evidence, including replacing about 100 PCs in preparation for an investigation by the Fair Trade Commission, were acquitted in the first trial.

Seoul Central District Court. / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

On the 20th, Judge Park Byung-gon of the Criminal Division 5 at the Seoul Central District Court acquitted three HD Hyundai Heavy Industries executives, including Mr. A, who were indicted without detention on charges of evidence destruction.

The court stated, "At the time of the incident, Hyundai Heavy Industries' main concern appeared to be preparing for the Fair Trade Commission's investigation rather than the prosecution's investigation," adding, "This is an inevitable conclusion based on the legal system under the Subcontracting Act, which only imposes fines for obstruction of investigations." Since the act was intended for the Fair Trade Commission's investigation, not a criminal case, it cannot be punished as evidence destruction.

Earlier, Mr. A and others were prosecuted on charges of massively destroying related evidence in preparation for the Fair Trade Commission's ex officio investigation into violations of the Subcontracting Act and the Ministry of Employment and Labor's investigation into violations of the Dispatch Act in 2018. It was investigated that they replaced 102 PCs and 273 hard disks used by company executives and employees at that time.

The Fair Trade Commission discovered that from 2014 to 2018, Hyundai Heavy Industries subcontracted about 48,000 shipbuilding and offshore plant manufacturing tasks to approximately 200 subcontractors, issuing contracts after work had started, forcing price reductions, or failing to inform subcontractors of payment amounts in advance, engaging in 'gapjil' (abuse of power), and imposed fines of 20.8 billion KRW while filing a complaint with the prosecution.

At that time, the Fair Trade Commission stated that Hyundai Heavy Industries employees replaced PCs and hard disks containing important data just before the on-site investigation in October 2018, obstructing the investigation, but only imposed fines of 10 million KRW on the company and 25 million KRW on the employees in June 2020.

However, civic groups such as the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and the Lawyers for a Democratic Society filed complaints with the prosecution on charges of evidence destruction, leading to the start of the investigation.

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