The Commerce Commission inquiry began in 2020. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
- Three former NZ employees of electronics giant LG have pleaded guilty to obstructing a regulator inquiry
- The Commerce Commission filed criminal charges after some requested information was destroyed
- All three were discharged without conviction
- The Comcom inquiry started in 2020, but was just publicised after name suppression lifted for two of the ex-LG employees
A former New Zealand country manager for global electronics giant LG and two staff members have pleaded guilty to criminal charges of obstructing a Commerce Commission investigation nearly four years ago.
The historic case has just come to light after name suppression lapsed for two of the trio.
The three were discharged without conviction after assessments of their individual circumstances.
The case dated back to a 2020 investigation into possible anti-competitive conduct in the supply and pricing of televisions, which might have restricted the ability of retailers to set their own prices.
LG's then- country manager, Dowan Kim, admitted telling a key account manager, Nicholas Clarke, and another staff member, who has permanent name suppression, to delete any messages with customers that might possibly be an "issue" in the investigation.
Kim said it was done at the instruction of an overseas manager, which LG denied.
The Commerce Commission queried why it had not been given all the information required, including instant messages, after being tipped off by a whistleblower about the message deletions.
Commission Chairperson John Small said it was a blatant attempt to obstruct the investigation.
"We will take action against parties who attempt to obstruct our investigations," Small said.
"In this particular case, given the conduct occurred after a direction from the most senior New Zealand manager of a large global electronics supplier, we considered the conduct to be sufficiently serious for the charges to be filed under the Crimes Act."
The Commission recovered some of the deleted messages, which did not reveal any breaches of the Commerce Act.
The result of the investigation was a compliance letter to LG about potential wrong conduct, and a warning to Panasonic.
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