Prosecutors have indicted Samsung Electronics, food service subsidiary Samsung Welstory, former Samsung executive Choi Gee-sung and others for violating the nation's fair trade law.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday announced the indictments for unfairly awarding in-house catering contracts to Welstory between 2013 and 2020 through four Samsung affiliates, including Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display,

They are also suspected of destroying evidence by ordering company employees to delete any incriminating records of the deals worth trillions of won.

The Fair Trade Commission(FTC) earlier slapped a combined fine of 234-point-nine billion won against five affiliates of Samsung Group for alleged unfair business practices and filed a complaint with the prosecution.

The prosecutors’ office, meanwhile, decided not to indict the group affiliates for dereliction of duty on the grounds that it would be difficult to conclude that they suffered losses from the deals.