"Like a Rag"... Kia Union Official Indicted for Pocketing 100 Million Won in Kickbacks from Group T-Shirts

Price Raised from 10,300 Won to 15,400 Won for Delivery
11 People Including Supplier Officials Also Indicted

A Kia union official who colluded with bidding companies to inflate prices and pocketed over 100 million won in kickbacks during the purchase of group T-shirts has been brought to trial.

On the 26th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Ansan Branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jo Hee-young) announced that they had arrested and indicted A, the general affairs manager of the Kia union, on charges of breach of trust, bribery, and bid rigging. Additionally, three officials from company B, which produced the group uniforms and provided kickbacks to A, three officials from the rival companies who manipulated the bid prices, and five union officials involved in transferring the kickbacks to A?a total of 11 people?were also indicted without detention on related charges.

A was charged with rigging the bid so that company B would win by using a front company during the purchase of 28,200 group T-shirts to be distributed to union members last August, and pocketing approximately 140 million won in kickbacks.

Kia Labor Union T-Shirt Bidding Specification [Image Source=Yonhap News]

The selection of the supplier was conducted through an open bidding process, but A manipulated the bids so that other participating companies would submit higher prices, allowing company B, which submitted a relatively lower price, to win the contract. Through this method, company B was found to have raised the unit cost of the T-shirts from 10,300 won to 15,400 won per piece when delivering them.

A also used nominee accounts of labor-management cooperation office employees to receive the difference in T-shirt prices.

This case came to light in January when some union members, suspicious of the quality of the T-shirts, filed a complaint with the National Sinmungo (a government complaint portal).

At that time, the union members raised concerns that the T-shirts were made of cheap synthetic materials consisting of 86% nylon and 14% polyurethane, and that the label attached was from a certain furniture company rather than a clothing manufacturer, leading to suspicions of counterfeit products. When union members at the Gwangmyeong Sohari factory, who received the T-shirts first, protested, it was reported that at the Gwangju factory, the labels were cut off with scissors before distribution.

Another union member claimed, "When I took the T-shirts to a Dongdaemun merchant and requested a quote for producing 30,000 pieces with the same fabric and design, the highest price quoted was 8,450 won," and added, "When checking prices on Coupang for fabrics from two companies, they were being sold for 5,900 won and 8,700 won respectively." The union members also strongly protested to the union leadership, saying things like "They are trash like rags," "Disclose a reasonable basis for the T-shirt prices," and "Did they cut the labels to hide the manufacturer and production year?" Some even tore the T-shirts or wrote phrases such as "Is this worth 16,000 won?" and "Give it to the dogs" on the T-shirts to pressure the union executives. In response, the union explained that "there was some error during the manufacturing process by the partner company."

The prosecution requested pre-indictment seizure of the criminal proceeds of approximately 140 million won obtained by A and about 41 million won in price differences retained by company B. The prosecution also plans to continue investigating whether additional parties were involved in the bidding process and whether there is any structural corruption.

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