Prosecutors Request Arrest Warrants for Eight Executives Including OCI CEO in Trillion-Won Petrochemical Price-Fixing Case
Kim Yoo-shin, CEO of OCI, and Jang Young-soo, Former CEO of PKC Among Those Involved
LG Chem, Hanwha Solutions and Others
Seven Companies Suspected of Colluding on Eight Petrochemical Products
Prosecutors have requested arrest warrants for eight individuals, including executives from major companies, who are accused of colluding to fix the prices of petrochemical products worth trillions of won, taking advantage of unstable raw material supplies caused by the Middle East war.
Na Hee-seok, Head Prosecutor of the Fair Trade Investigation Division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, is briefing the investigation results on the oil price disturbance case related to the U.S.-Iran war at the press room of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu on the 6th. Photo by Yonhap News
View original imageAccording to the legal community on September 14, the Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (headed by Chief Prosecutor Na Hee-seok) filed arrest warrants on the same day for OCI CEO Kim Yoo-shin, former PKC CEO Jang Young-soo, PKC's Head of Sales identified as Bae, and five others on charges of violating the Fair Trade Act.
The prosecution believes that seven companies—LG Chem, Hanwha Solutions, Aekyung Chemical, OCI, Lotte Fine Chemical, PKC, and UNID—have conspired over several years to prearrange price increases for eight petrochemical products: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), plasticizers, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, chlorine, hypo, TDI, and ECH.
Prosecutors specifically determined that these companies colluded to fix prices and secured unfair profits totaling trillions of won by exploiting the instability in naphtha supplies caused by the Middle East war.
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On August 5 last month, prosecutors conducted searches and seizures at the seven companies to secure related materials and subsequently summoned the executives for questioning. On September 10, CEO Kim, former CEO Jang, A—Executive Vice President heading the PVC and plasticizer business division at LG Chem—were questioned, and Hanwha Solutions' CEO was also investigated.
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