Fair trade officials bribed by companies: lawmaker

The Fair Trade Commision's Seoul branch, which was opened on January of this year.

Gov’t-company exchange program may have been vehicle for influence-peddling

Several officials at the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) have been accused of receiving bribes worth as much as 100 million won (US$103,000) from private companies at which they worked. The officials worked for the companies under a government plan to promote an exchange between the government and the private sector.

The corruption cases were disclosed by ruling Uri Party lawmaker Kim Yeong-ju. On September 25, Kim said that out of 14 FTC officials who had worked for private companies, 11 received "payments that they shouldn’t have received." The bribes totaled more than 600 million won, Kim said.

Three of the accused officials voluntarily resigned from the FTC as the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) began its investigation into the allegations, Kim said.

Of the 11 accused, five worked for law firm Kim & Chang and two served for POSCO. The remaining four worked for law firms Bae, Kim & Lee and Woo Yun Kang Jeong & Han, Samsung Card, and Samsung Economic Research Institute, according to Kim.

In the case of one of the accused FTC officials, only identified by the surname Park, he or she received a total of 132 million won as a bonus for one year of work for the law firm Yulchon. Another FTC official, who was an advisor for a POSCO executive, received a total of 119 million won for two years.

"During their work period, there were pending issues between FTC and the private companies," Kim said. Kim suspected the officials of peddling influence for the private companies, saying Samsung Card was acquitted of nine out of 12 cases and POSCO was acquitted of four out of nine cases investigated by the FTC.

In August, the BAI delivered a warning to the FTC, urging that law firms and other related companies be excluded from a list of private companies at which government officials could work.