Binggrae, Lotte Food, Lotte Confectionery, and Haitai Confectionery, along with their executives, have been found guilty in a second trial on charges of 'price collusion for ice cream.' They were also convicted in the first trial.
On the 26th, the Seoul Central District Court's 4-2 Division (Director General Eom Cheol, Yoon Won-mok, Song Jung-ho) imposed a fine of 200 million won on the corporation Binggrae for violations of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act.
Executive A of Binggrae and Executive B of Lotte Food, who were indicted on the same charges, received a sentence of 1 year in prison, suspended for 2 years, while Executive C of Lotte Confectionery and Executive D of Haitai Confectionery were sentenced to 6 months in prison, suspended for 1 year.
The court stated, 'Binggrae claims that the price reduction (for ice cream) was not a result of an agreement.' However, it appears that the four companies engaged in various acts based on a fundamental agreement to reduce prices for the same purpose.
This case came to light when the Fair Trade Commission revealed the price collusion allegations against the four companies regarding ice cream. The commission found that these companies gained an improper profit of 10 billion won through collusion regarding ice cream sales, supply prices, and the partitioning of retail clients from February 15, 2016, to October 1, 2019. It imposed a corrective order along with a total penalty surcharge of 135.045 billion won and filed complaints against some companies and executives.
The executives of these four companies were indicted for allegedly agreeing in advance on the order of bidders and winning bidders in ice cream supply bids for Hyundai Motor from June 2017 to May 2019.
The first trial also found them guilty. The court noted, 'Given the prolonged collusion that undermined the fairness of the bidding and affected all ice cream produced by them, the degree of violation is severe.'