이 기사는 2021년 06월 28일 07시23분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics is poised to take legal action against the country’s competition watchdog, which slapped a record amount of penalties on Samsung affiliates including the tech giant for allegedly violating the fair trade law.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced Thursday the imposition of a combined 234.9 billion won ($208.1 million) fines and a correction order on Samsung Electronics and three other affiliates, arguing that they unfairly favored Samsung Welstory – a catering subsidiary wholly owned by Samsung C&T, which is the family-controlled conglomerate’s de facto holding company – over other catering services.

The regulator also said it would report Samsung Electronics and the former head of the company’s strategic planning department, Choi Gee-sung, to the prosecution for charges of leading unfair intercompany transactions to help provide wealth for the owner’s family.

Samsung Electronics in a statement issued on the same day expressed its regret over the KFTC’s decision, and said it would file an administrative litigation to show that the transactions did not violate the law.

Industry watchers are expecting a full-fledged effort by Samsung to overturn the KFTC’s charges, not just because of a record amount of fines but because the watchdog brought the conglomerate’s ownership structure into focus.

The KFTC argued in a statement that Samsung affiliates struck contracts that guaranteed profits for Samsung Welstory, which was used as an “important cash cow” for the conglomerate’s controlling Lee family.

Some observers are raising an eyebrow over the KFTC’s intention of attacking Samsung, especially when favorable public sentiment for a pardon of Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong is gaining momentum.

The KFTC’s announcement came only three months after Samsung Electronics lost a legal case against the watchdog’s imposition of a 488 billion won fine in 2018 over alleged violation of an advertising law.

The Seoul High Court sided with the KFTC with a ruling that reduced the fine only by 16 million won. The Supreme Court also upheld the High Court’s decision on March 30. (Reporting by Choong-hee Won)