Published : Aug. 17, 2021 - 12:02
This file photo, provided by the Fair Trade Commission, shows Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.'s employees taking out the company's hard drives and computers in August 2018, ahead of the antitrust watchdog's on-site inspection over alleged unfair trade. (Fair Trade Commission)
Prosecutors have raided Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.'s headquarters in the southeastern city of Ulsan for allegedly destroying evidence to avert the antitrust watchdog's investigation into unfair business practices, judicial sources said Tuesday.
According to the sources, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office recently searched the company's office in Ulsan, about 415 kilometers southeast of the capital, to seize internal documents.
Last year, People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and several other civic groups reported the CEO and three other employees of South Korea's largest shipbuilder to the prosecution on charges of evidence tampering related to the company's alleged unfair trade with its subcontractors.
In 2019, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) fined the shipbuilder 20.8 billion won ($17.7 million) for allegedly signing formal contracts with its 200 subcontractors only after putting them to work and also lowering payments from 2014 to 2018.
The FTC also imposed on Hyundai Heavy and some of its employees fines of 100 million won and 25 million won, respectively, on charges of attempting to hinder the watchdog's investigation by replacing the company's 273 hard drives and 101 computers ahead of an on-site inspection in 2018.
The civic groups called for punishments heavier than financial penalties for the alleged destruction of evidence. (Yonhap)