Insurance companies put on trial on charges of colluding in a bid for a rental housing insurance contract ordered by the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) were acquitted again on appeal.
According to legal sources on the 6th, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 11-1 on this day acquitted Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Hanwha General Insurance, and Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance, which had been indicted on charges of violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. Public Enterprises Consulting, an insurance agency that was tried alongside them, and its employee were also acquitted.
The court explained the reason for the acquittals, saying, "The lower court found it difficult to prove the crime based only on the evidence consistent with the indictment, and this court also has no new witnesses or materials, so it is difficult to view the lower court's judgment differently."
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Hanwha General Insurance were charged with colluding in a bid in Dec. 2017 for a comprehensive property insurance policy for LH rental housing to ensure that Insurer A won the contract. In Feb. 2018, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance was added, and the three insurers were indicted on allegations that they backed Insurer A in a fire insurance bid on the condition that they split the premium.
Public Enterprises Consulting acted as an insurance agency for Company A and was brought to trial on charges of colluding with other non-life insurers.
However, the court on this day upheld, as in the first trial, fines of 3 million won and 10 million won, respectively, for charges including forgery of private documents against a person surnamed Park, the head of Public Enterprises Consulting, and a person surnamed Kim, an employee of Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance.