SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in leaves a room after a news conference at the group's headquarters in southern Seoul, Oct. 21. Yonhap

Prosecutors questioned the chair of the nation's largest bakery chain, SPC Group, on Wednesday over alleged unfair practices of awarding business contracts to affiliates.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office summoned SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in for an investigation into the alleged violation of a law that bans unfair business practices among the group's affiliates.

Prosecutors suspect several affiliates of SPC helped the group's only listed affiliate, SPC Samlip, earn 41.4 billion won ($29.3 million) between 2011 and 2018 by unfairly awarding contracts to it.

SPC allegedly supported SPC Samlip to make it easier for Hur's children to take the wheel at the group, according to prosecutors.

In 2020, the country's antitrust regulator fined SPC group 67.4 billion won for the alleged violation. The regulator also referred three top executives of SPC, including Hur, to prosecutors for further investigation. (Yonhap)