The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said, Monday, it had fined Carrefour Korea W754.6 million on charges that it unfairly made suppliers pay for damages from delivery mishaps, and that it plans to refer the French discount chain to the prosecution for a criminal investigation.

According to the KFTC, Carrefour compensated a customer over W130 million for a delivery mishap by an express mail delivery firm known as "M," which was entrusted by one of Carrefour’s subsidiaries with delivering a Chuseok holiday present last September. Carrefour went on to deduct the compensation amount from 112 fresh foods suppliers without their knowledge when it settled its accounts with them.

KFTC added that the victimized firms had originally planned to file a reparation lawsuit against the M company but dropped it after M pleaded its innocence.

The KFTC ordered newspapers to officially announce the penalties against Carrefour and referred the company to the prosecution for criminal investigation. Carrefour has countered that the person in charge of the fresh foods division acted on his own and that it returned the money to the 112 companies in the course of the KFTC’s investigations. (Lee Kil-sung, atticus@chosun.com )