Election watchdog special prosecutor raids ballot-counter firms over alleged bid rigging

The special prosecutor investigating allegations of misconduct at the National Election Commission — including a ballot shortage that emerged during the June 3 local elections — launched a forced investigation Monday into companies suspected of colluding on ballot-counting machine contracts.

The special prosecutor's team said it began executing search and seizure warrants at around 9 a.m. Monday at the offices of two companies and the residences of their operators. The team said it determined that the companies had unlawfully restricted competition under the Act on Contracts to Which the State Is a Party, and that the conduct falls under violations of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act.

Investigators said the companies had repeatedly secured sole-source contracts over roughly a decade, accumulating total payments of about 17.5 billion won ($12.9 million), and that they had detected signs the repeated sole-source arrangements stemmed from collusion between the firms.

The team plans to analyze materials seized Monday alongside documents obtained through a search of relevant NEC departments on Oct. 15 to establish the full facts of the case.

"We will determine whether any NEC officials were involved in the alleged collusion among the ballot-counter companies, and will get to the bottom of the various suspicions surrounding the NEC's overall lax management — including preferential sole-source contracts and improper ties with vendors," a member of the special prosecutor's team said.