By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest automaker, and its four affiliates including Kia Motors were slapped with a total of 63.1 billion won ($67.1 million) in fines for undue internal trading Thursday.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it has fined Hyundai Motor and four other units of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, including Hyundai Steel, 63.1 billion won for funding six affiliates in violation of the country's Fair Trade Act.
Other subsidiaries subject to the fines include auto parts company Hyundai Mobis and logistics firm Hyundai Glovis, according to the FTC. Hyundai Card and Rotem were also involved in the unfair business practices, but they were not fined.
Hyundai Motor was fined the largest amount of 50.8 billion won, Kia Motors 6.1 billion won and Hyundai Mobis 5.1 billion won, followed by Hyundai Glovis with 900 million won and Hyundai Steel with 100 million won.
Hyundai Motor was found to have subsidized Hyundai Mobis by buying parts supplies at inflated prices, and Hyundai Hysco, by purchasing steel plates at above-market prices, according to the antitrust regulator.
FTC officials have been investigating the illicit business practices of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group for the past year as the group chairman, Chung Mong-koo, has stood trial for embezzlement.
Chung was given a suspended jail term later in the day at an appeals court after being sentenced to three years in prison by a lower court in February for embezzling 90 billion won in company funds and causing damages to Hyundai affiliates for his breach of trust.
Shares of Hyundai Motor, which traded below 70,500 won in the morning, closed at 71,800 won, up 0.56 percent from the previous day, on news that the chairman was not jailed.