Top executives, including heads of food companies suspected of colluding on starch sugar prices, are on the brink of being taken into custody.
On the 31st, Seoul Central District Court Director General for warrants Kim Jin-man will hold a pretrial detention hearing to review the need to detain Daesang CEO a person surnamed Lim and Sajo CPK CEO a person surnamed Lee, who are suspected of violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. At 9:30 a.m. the same day, a substantive warrant review was also held for Daesang's starch sugar business division head a person surnamed Kim (director). A decision on whether to detain them could come as early as tonight.
They are suspected of agreeing in advance on starch sugar sales prices and coordinating prices during bids from major end users. Daesang and Sajo CPK are the No. 1 and No. 2 players in Korea's starch sugar industry.
Starch sugar refers to sugars made from starch, such as starch syrup, fructose, and oligosaccharides, and is widely used across foods including snacks, beverages, and dairy products. Given the nature of the materials and supplies, if price fixing is confirmed to be true, the overall impact on consumer goods prices is expected to be significant.
Prosecutors are said to have launched a direct investigation after detecting signs that oligopolistic starch sugar companies—including Daesang, Samyang Corporation, Sajo CPK, and CJ CheilJedang—conducted collusion worth about 10 trillion won over the past eight years. This is larger in scale than the 5 trillion won flour collusion and the 3 trillion won sugar collusion cases previously investigated by prosecutors.
After raiding the four companies on the 23rd of last month, prosecutors also exercised their authority twice to request that the Korea Fair Trade Commission file a complaint. Under the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, for unfair trade cases such as collusion, prosecutors can indict only if the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) files a complaint. Because of the so-called exclusive complaint authority structure, investigations by the commission take time, and if no complaint is filed, it is difficult to move forward to investigation and trial, prompting continued debate over whether to abolish the exclusive complaint authority.
Prosecutors have recently focused on investigating price-fixing cases involving essential goods directly tied to people's daily lives. Through last month, prosecutors brought to trial 52 executives and employees of companies that participated in collusion worth about 10 trillion won in the flour, sugar, and electricity sectors.