Fair Trade Commission imposes fines on Philip Construction and 4 others for bid rigging in Okgyesan Industrial Complex

Five companies, including Philip Construction, were fined a total of 255 million KRW (provisional) and received corrective orders from the Fair Trade Commission for colluding on prices in the bid for the Okgyesan Industrial Complex development project commissioned by the Gangwon Provincial Development Corporation.

According to the Fair Trade Commission on the 25th, it was found that in the embankment material (soil piled on the ground for site development) purchase bid held in December 2018, they colluded by deciding the successful bidder, decoy bidders, and bid prices, then shared the profits of the successful bidder. The company that submitted the lowest price (Jayeongwauri) maximized joint profits by abandoning the project after winning the bid.

The leader of this collusion was Philip Construction. Although Philip Construction did not directly participate in the bid, it was investigated that they orchestrated the collusion to quickly dispose of the soil generated at their construction site at a high price. They had agreed in advance to sell their soil to the company that won the embankment material purchase bid.

The Fair Trade Commission stated, "This action penalizes bid rigging between construction companies and transportation companies occurring at public sector construction sites," and pointed out, "They intentionally won the bid at a high price to increase their profits, causing waste of budget."

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