"Even If They Try to Hide, We Uncover Everything"... Fair Trade Commission Awards 15 Million Won to Employees Who Uncovered Sugar Cartel

The Fair Trade Commission has awarded record-breaking bonuses to employees who uncovered collusion and unfair practices that disrupted market order, in a move to promote a ‘performance-oriented’ organizational culture. Investigators who uncovered the sugar price-fixing scheme among the three major sugar companies-which had been conducted secretly for 20 years-were honored as the main recipients of this award.

Fair Trade Commission 1st Special Achievement Award Ceremony. Fair Trade Commission.

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On April 22, the Fair Trade Commission held the ‘1st Special Achievement Award Ceremony’ and announced on the 26th that it had awarded a total of 32 million won in bonuses to 14 employees who delivered outstanding results. This program was introduced for the first time this year, following the President’s instruction to provide exceptional rewards to public officials who achieve remarkable outcomes.

The largest bonus was given for uncovering the collusion among three sugar manufacturing and sales companies. Munhong Jung, Deputy Director (awarded 10 million won), and Byeonghun Woo, Director (awarded 5 million won), noticed that sugar prices were rising simultaneously across the country. The investigation was not easy, as the companies left no evidence-such as meeting minutes or messenger records-and conducted their collusion only through secret meetings and phone calls.

When the case was on the verge of going unresolved, the investigative strategy overhaul by Haengrok Oh, then Head of the Manufacturing Cartel Investigation Division in 2007 (now Director-General of Corporate Combination Review), and his year-long relentless pressure, proved crucial. In the end, the investigators obtained confessions about the collusion, leading the three sugar companies to voluntarily report themselves, resulting in fines totaling 396 billion won. This led to a 16.5% reduction in sugar prices and a decline in processed food prices, contributing to public welfare stabilization.

The Fair Trade Commission also highly evaluated teams that redesigned the sanction system itself and strengthened oversight of large corporations, in addition to those who uncovered collusion. Deputy Director Jihyeon Min, Director Sunhee Lee, Deputy Director Jangkwon Kim, and Deputy Director Minjeong Kim were recognized for implementing a major policy reform to raise the cap on fines to global standards, thereby strengthening economic sanctions (awarded 6.5 million won). This is credited with overturning the perception among companies that "getting caught is still profitable," enhancing the effectiveness of law enforcement, and fundamentally blocking the expected gains from unfair practices.

Manager Zandi Eum, Director Jeongae Hwang, Deputy Directors Hangyeol Kim and Junhoe Kim, and Investigator Eunsung Oh were recognized for their achievement in uncovering (awarded 6 million won) the omission of affiliates by controlling shareholders of major conglomerates such as DB, Youngwon, and HDC, which had been concealed in secret for 20 years. In particular, after the current administration took office, the number of criminal charges filed against controlling shareholders increased significantly from one under the previous government to four, earning positive reviews for the Commission’s changed approach.

Manager Juyeon Jang, Director Yongju Jeon, and Deputy Director Jisoo Yoon devoted their efforts to monitoring consumer prices, specifically targeting unjustified price hikes that took advantage of external uncertainties such as the Middle East war (awarded 4.5 million won). They were credited with contributing directly to stabilizing consumer prices by prompting actual product price reductions.

Fair Trade Commission Chairman Byeonggi Joo commented on the sugar cartel case, saying, "This achievement is the result of the investigators' capabilities and their determination to get to the bottom of the case," adding, "The fact that we were able to induce voluntary reporting by a massive cartel using only administrative investigative authority was the key to uncovering the truth."

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