FTC files complaint against top 4 chaebol for unfair inside dealings

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Thursday that it filed a complaint with the prosecution against the leading affiliates of the nation's top four chaebol, all of which engaged in unfair intra-group transactions.

They include Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Card, LG Corp. and SK Global. This is the first time the FTC has filed a complaint with the prosecution against conglomerates for their intra-group deals.

After learning that the four companies had conducted illegal trading worth about 2.4 trillion won, the FTC imposed fines of 44.2 billion won on 28 affiliates of the four business groups.

The FTC also found evidence that Hyundai Asan Chairman Chung Mong-Hun and Lee Jae-Yong, son of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-Hee, had earned some 6.38 billion won and 300 million billion won worth of profits, respectively, from illicit stock transactions involving non-listed shares.

LG Group was found to have helped brothers and relatives of its chairman, Koo Bon-Moo, obtain stocks at low prices and earn profits totaling 14.6 billion won.

By group, SK led the list in terms of gross intra-group transactions with 1.06 trillion won, followed by Hyundai's 565.4 billion won, LG's 504.2 billion won and Samsung's 331.1 billion won. Seven affiliates of Hyundai were slapped with the highest total fines at 14.1 billion won, while the FTC slapped fines of 12.2 billion won on LG's eight affiliates, 9.98 billion won on Samsung's seven affiliates and 7.84 billion won on six SK affiliates.

The four groups denied the charges and some of them are preparing to file a protest against the FTC's decision.