Prosecutors here have been looking into allegations that some company executives and labor union representatives pocketed kickbacks in return for offering permanent job positions to contract workers.

A total of 31 suspects, including the five senior company leaders, have been indicted in the case.

Prosecutors said out of 1.15 billion won ($1 million) in kickbacks that were detected, 873 million won, or 75.7 percent of the total amount, went to 17 former and current members of the company's labor union.

Employees gave on average some 20 million won to 30 million won to the labor union members as bribes, according to prosecutors. The largest amount was 75 million won.

Senior employees at the company took part in the corruption scheme by fabricating the document screening and interview results of scores for those who applied for a permanent position at the company, according to prosecutors. Some of them actually pocketed money themselves.

Management seems to have cooperated with the labor union in order to maintain good labor-management relations, prosecutors said. (Yonhap)