South Korea’s corporate watchdog said Thursday that it would fine a total of 16 billion won ($14.6 million) on seven cable makers here for rigging project bids.

According to the Fair Trade Commission’s statement, the manufacturers worked together more than 30 times to set bidding prices for three separate cable supply contracts and shared the work among themselves over a two-year period between 2011 and 2013. Each company will be subjected to a fine of about 2.5 billion won, the statement added. 


Taihan Electric Wire was fined the largest amount, 2.7 billion won.

The watchdog added that it will refer the companies to the prosecution for further investigation, meaning the companies could still face additional fines.

According to the FTC, the cable makers here appeared to have colluded to set the bidding prices and shared the work out among themselves, to avoid bidding wars.

While admitting to the wrongdoing, the cable companies said that they had taken such measures in the past to relieve oversupply issues that stemmed from overcapacity in the production bases here. The companies have imposed penalties on the individuals involved in collusion and no longer engage in such pracitices, industry sources added.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)