[THE INVESTOR] The top 10 South Korean builders have paid more than 1 trillion won (US$890 million) in fines for unfair practices over the past three years, government data showed on Aug. 29.

A combined fine of 1.12 trillion won has been imposed on the leading construction companies for a total of 102 collusion and other “collusive unfair acts” between 2014 and 2016, according to the data that the Fair Trade Commission submitted to the office of Rep. Park Yong-jin of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea.




More than half the combined fine, or 633 billion won, was levied in 2014, when the top seven construction companies and 21 others were fined a combined 347.9 billion won for collusion on part of the project to build a high-speed railroad linking Seoul with the southwestern port city of Mokpo.

The top 10 builders’ combined fine dropped to 183 billion won in 2015, but the amount stood at 306 billion won in the first eight months of this year.

Top builder Samsung C&T paid the largest fine of 239.5 billion won after committing 11 cases of collusive bidding and other unfair practices.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)