Fuel Price Scandal

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Three South Korean companies have been slapped with fines and damages by the US government on charges of rigging fuel prices supplied to U.S. military bases in the country.

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The three firms accused by the U.S. Department of Justice are SK Energy, GS Caltex and Hanjin Transportation. The department said the three firms have acknowledged their wrongdoing for bid-rigging in supplying fuel to US Forces Korea. The firms will have to pay some 236 million dollars in fines and compensation. The Justice Department said the price fixing was perpetrated from March 2005 through 2016. The department's Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Makan Delrahim said the "conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition" during the bidding process for the fuel contracts for ten years has cost a considerable amount of additional expense for the US Department of Defense. Delrahim said the charges involving the three firms are just a part of a wider probe, implying that more investigation was under way. The Justice Department said civil damages of 154 million dollars imposed on the firms based on the U.S. Clayton Antitrust Act will be the largest amount recorded since the law was enacted in 1914.