Supreme Court rules continuous bid rigging by same issuer is single crime

The Supreme Court said Thursday that continuous bid-rigging acts committed across a series of similar tenders issued by the same entity constitute a single comprehensive crime.

The high court dismissed appeals filed by both defendants and prosecutors on February 26, upholding the Seoul High Court judgment in case number 2025Do8286. At issue was whether violations of the Framework Act on the Construction Industry should be treated as individual crimes for each rigged bid or as one aggregated offense.

Judges reasoned that the protected legal interest is the fairness of the bidding process itself. When a single issuer continuously conducts tenders for similar works, repeated acts infringe upon the same legal interest. If these violations occur under a single and continuous intent over a certain period, they form a comprehensive single crime.

The ruling noted that Article 95, Paragraph 1 of the construction act serves as a special regulation to the obstruction of bidding defined in Article 315 of the Criminal Code. The provision aims to impose heavier penalties on constructors who undermine fair competition.

However, the court maintained partial acquittals for defendant eight and several others regarding charges related to violations before May 15, 2017, agreeing with the lower court that evidence was insufficient to prove guilt for those specific earlier instances.

The case involved collusion targeting multiple tenders for the supply and installation of special furniture required for apartment complex construction projects.