Special counsel probing the NEC raids two ballot-counting machine firms ... “Signs of collusion behind about 17.5 billion won in contracts over 10 years”

[Financial News] The special counsel team investigating the National Election Commission of the Republic of Korea (NEC), led by Special Counsel Lee Tae-han, raided two ballot-counting machine companies. It uncovered signs that collusion between the companies lay behind the NEC’s repeated sole-source contracts with them over nearly 10 years, for which it spent about 17.5 billion won.
The team said in a media notice that it was searching the offices of the two ballot-counting machine companies and the homes of their respective operators, starting at around 9 a.m. on the 9th. A total of 34 people were deployed, including three prosecutors and 10 forensic investigators.
The two companies are suspected of violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. The special counsel team believes that the companies jointly and unfairly restricted competition as provided for under the Act on Contracts to Which the State Is a Party. The collusion allegedly prevented competitive bidding from taking place, leading to repeated sole-source contracts.
While examining how the NEC rented ballot-counting machines from the two companies through sole-source contracts for about 10 years and spent a total of about 17.5 billion won, the team found signs of collusion. The team said, “We have found indications that these repeated sole-source contracts resulted from collusion between the two ballot-counting machine companies.”
A clue emerged from an earlier search. On the 15th of last month, the team searched a department related to the Central NEC and secured materials concerning these allegations. The searches of the companies that day were a follow-up measure.
The team plans to determine whether NEC officials were involved in the collusion. It said, “We will thoroughly investigate the various allegations of lax management across the NEC’s operations, including preferential treatment in various sole-source contracts and cozy ties with companies, uncover the truth, and do our utmost to establish accountability.”
The team has been investigating lax management across the agency’s operations, including preferential treatment in sole-source contracts involving current and former NEC employees and cozy ties with companies.


[email protected] Kim Dong-gyu Reporter