South Korea's corporate watchdog said Wednesday it imposed a total of 803.6 billion won $707.8 million) in fines last year to punish unfair trade practices such as price rigging.
The Fair Trade Commission said it handled 3,885 cases in 2016, down 11 percent from 4,367 a year earlier, with 3,802 new cases reported to the agency.
(Yonhap)
Out of the total, 111 cases were slapped with financial penalties, nearly halving from the previous year's 202 cases, with the amount of fines jumping 36.5 percent on-year to 803.8 billion won.
It referred 57 cases to the prosecution for further investigation, while 252 companies were ordered to take corrective measures.
The watchdog levied the largest 350.5 billion won on 13 builders who colluded to fix prices in a public bid to build LNG storage tanks arranged by the Korea Gas Corp.
Among the FTC's measures, 51 new cases were brought to court in 2016, while the watchdog won 84 cases, including 11 partial victories, and lost 11 as the court made final decisions on 95 cases last year. (Yonhap)