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Hyundai boss too important to be jailed, judges decide
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| Contributor | particleman |
| Last Edited | particleman Sep 08, 2007 11:55pm |
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| Category | Legal Ruling |
| Media | Newspaper - Los Angeles Times |
| News Date | Saturday, September 8, 2007 05:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In South Korea, the rule of law was no match for the strength of Hyundai Motor Co.
Convicted of embezzling $110 million, Hyundai Chairman Chung Mong-koo was deemed too important to South Korea's economy to be sent to prison, an appeals court ruled late Thursday.
The three-judge panel suspended his three-year prison sentence, a decision denounced by corporate reform activists.
"It's ridiculous and shameful," Kim Sang-jo, a professor at Hansung University in Seoul, said today of the ruling. Kim has led a group advocating corporate governance reform at South Korean companies, including electronics giant Samsung.
Chung, 69, was convicted in February of embezzling the money to set up a political slush fund and was sentenced to prison.
In reversing Chung's sentence, presiding Judge Lee Jae-hong told a packed courtroom in Seoul, "I was unwilling to engage in a gamble that would put the nation's economy at risk," according to the Associated Press.
The judge contrasted the case to that of Enron Corp., the notorious bankrupt energy company whose chairman, Kenneth Lay, died of a heart attack last summer while awaiting sentencing on his conviction for fraud.
The judge said Hyundai, the world's sixth-largest automaker, was much more important to South Korea's economy than Enron was to that of the U.S., according to people in the courtroom.
Lee told Chung to work hard and fulfill his social responsibilities, including making charitable donations. A solemn Chung bowed and said, "Yes, I will." |
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