Prosecutors have moved to secure the custody of flour mill executives suspected of colluding to fix flour prices.
According to legal sources on the 22nd, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Fair Trade Investigation Division (Director General Na Hee-seok) sought arrest warrants on the 21st for four executives, including former and current CEOs of Daehan Flour Mills and Sajo Dongaone, on suspicion of violating the Fair Trade Act. They are suspected of colluding for years by agreeing in advance to raise flour prices or adjusting shipment volumes.
Prosecutors last month also carried out raids on Daehan Flour Mills, Sajo Dongaone, and CJ CheilJedang on suspicion that they colluded over several years by agreeing in advance to raise prices or adjust volumes, ramping up the investigation. Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung, at a Cabinet meeting in Sep. last year, raised the possibility of collusion among companies amid soaring prices and called on relevant ministries to take proactive measures.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission later detected signs of collusion among flour mills and stepped up its probe by conducting on-site inspections of seven companies, including Daehan Flour Mills, CJ CheilJedang, Sajo Dongaone, Daesun Flour Mills, Samyang Corporation, Samhwa Flour Mills, and Hantop. As prosecutors continue investigations into price-fixing cases involving daily necessities, they are accelerating probes into "people's livelihood–disrupting crimes," including indicting former and current employees of Samyang Corporation and CJ CheilJedang in custody in Nov. last year on suspicion of colluding to fix sugar prices.