Private or negotiated contracts do not open competition through a bidding process but are reached with interested parties getting together to work out details of the deal.

Of the total business groups, retail giant Shinsegae and 19 others carried out all inter-affiliate transactions without opening bidding, with 86.2 percent of the 977 companies resorting to closed-door deals for internal trading.

Only 5.5 percent, or 55 firms, reported no negotiated deals last year, with nearly 52 percent of all internal transactions settled in cash.

Such arrangements are under fire for making it easier for conglomerates to give favor to affiliates and making it harder for companies outside the business group to win such contracts. They can also result in big businesses helping firms owned by family members of the conglomerate's large shareholders make "easy money" by winning lucrative contracts from affiliates. (Yonhap)