FTC to Investigate Unfair Internal Transactions in Public Sector

The Fair Trade Committee(FTC) will carefully keep an eye on secret funneling of money between government-owned subsiduaries for the first time, next month.
The government has already regulated transactions in the private sector, especially the relationship between the 30 major private conglomerates and their subsiduaries, but concern over subsidiaries receiving illegal funds in the public sector has raised alarm bells.
The FTC, on January 25, asserted that it will examine major government-owned companies for evidence that unfair assistance was given to weaker subsidiaries, and eventually it will remove non-viable groups in the course of restructuring.
Including Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Telecom, eight companies and their 22 subsidiaries will be scrutinized.
A source from the FTC said, 'In May and June of last year, we had already found various kinds of illegal transactions, so this time a more intensive and rigid investigative process will take place to better ensure fairness in the business sector.'
The FTC will initially review whole companies and then establish a centralized, ongoing monitoring of the entire public sector. Whether Pohang Iron and Steel Co.(POSCO) will be included in the initial probe is still undecided.