A pretrial detention hearing for two HD Hyundai Oilbank employees suspected of colluding to fix fuel prices among Korea's four refiners will be held on the 18th at the Seoul Central District Court.
According to legal sources on the 15th, Director General Judge Bu Dong-sik, who handles warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, will conduct a pretrial detention hearing on the 18th for two employees in HD Hyundai Oilbank's pricing department suspected of violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act.
The Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (headed by Director General Prosecutor Na Hee-seok) recently sought arrest warrants for the two. This is the first time prosecutors have moved to detain related individuals in their investigation into alleged price collusion among domestic refiners.
The four refiners—SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil and HD Hyundai Oilbank—are suspected of prearranging to arbitrarily raise or freeze prices of fuel and petroleum products distributed in Korea. Prosecutors are examining whether the refiners systematically aligned prices by exploiting upward pressure on oil prices during crisis conditions stemming from the Middle East.
Prosecutors launched a compulsory investigation with raids on the four refiners and the Korea Petroleum Association, a registered association, on Mar. 23. Since then, they have questioned employees involved in pricing decisions to determine whether collusion occurred and how decisions were made.
Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung said in February, after the United States struck Iran and domestic oil prices showed signs of rising, that authorities should respond sternly to illegal acts such as collusion, hoarding and stockpiling by refiners and gas stations. Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho also called the alleged price collusion "a serious antisocial criminal act that seeks to turn the people's suffering into an opportunity for windfall profits," and ordered a stern response from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
Whether the HD Hyundai Oilbank employees are detained will be decided after the hearing and a review of the records.