ID :
21194
Thu, 09/25/2008 - 17:52
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/21194
The shortlink copeid
Daewoo founder walks after being found guilty of hiding assets
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- Kim Woo-choong, former chairman of the now-dismantled Daewoo Group, was found guilty Thursday of hiding assets subject to forfeiture but walked away free as the court ruled the crime was unintentional.
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced him to a year and a half in prison,
suspended for two years, on charges of stashing assets valued at 115 billion won
(US$99.6 million). The verdict would be the final decision in a series of court
hearings that followed in the wake of Daewoo's collapse a decade ago.
Kim, who was sentenced in 2006 to eight and a half years in prison and ordered to
forfeit 17.9 trillion won for fraud and embezzlement one year after returning
home following six years on the run abroad, was granted a pardon last December as
part of a special amnesty by then President Roh Moo-hyun. Several other former
Daewoo executives were also convicted and some were jailed.
In July, prosecutors brought fresh charges against Kim after finding he had
stashed 115 billion won in an overseas paper company he established. Kim said the
assets had been reported to the authorities but could not be forfeited because
separate court battles with creditors were then under way.
Judge Yoon Gyeong noted that his "crime is grave, but the defendant deeply
regrets it and the pertinent assets have since been forfeited to the government."
Prosecutors sought a one-year jail term for Kim, to be suspended two years due to
the ailing tycoon's poor health. They added that Kim's crime was unintended and
that he had voluntarily reported the assets.
The court, noting Kim's deteriorating health following two heart surgeries, had
postponed the verdict, which was initially scheduled for Sept. 4.
Once South Korea's second largest conglomerate, Daewoo collapsed in 1999 under
the weight of an US$80 billion debt in non-performing bank loans in the wake of
the Asian financial crisis.
Before Daewoo's fall, Kim was an inspiration to Korean youth, transforming a
small textile firm into a major conglomerate that drove Korean exports abroad and
fueled the country's meteoric industrial growth from the 1970s through the 90s.
Some see Daewoo as a victim of the government's shift of policy to end cash
injections to troubled conglomerates.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced him to a year and a half in prison,
suspended for two years, on charges of stashing assets valued at 115 billion won
(US$99.6 million). The verdict would be the final decision in a series of court
hearings that followed in the wake of Daewoo's collapse a decade ago.
Kim, who was sentenced in 2006 to eight and a half years in prison and ordered to
forfeit 17.9 trillion won for fraud and embezzlement one year after returning
home following six years on the run abroad, was granted a pardon last December as
part of a special amnesty by then President Roh Moo-hyun. Several other former
Daewoo executives were also convicted and some were jailed.
In July, prosecutors brought fresh charges against Kim after finding he had
stashed 115 billion won in an overseas paper company he established. Kim said the
assets had been reported to the authorities but could not be forfeited because
separate court battles with creditors were then under way.
Judge Yoon Gyeong noted that his "crime is grave, but the defendant deeply
regrets it and the pertinent assets have since been forfeited to the government."
Prosecutors sought a one-year jail term for Kim, to be suspended two years due to
the ailing tycoon's poor health. They added that Kim's crime was unintended and
that he had voluntarily reported the assets.
The court, noting Kim's deteriorating health following two heart surgeries, had
postponed the verdict, which was initially scheduled for Sept. 4.
Once South Korea's second largest conglomerate, Daewoo collapsed in 1999 under
the weight of an US$80 billion debt in non-performing bank loans in the wake of
the Asian financial crisis.
Before Daewoo's fall, Kim was an inspiration to Korean youth, transforming a
small textile firm into a major conglomerate that drove Korean exports abroad and
fueled the country's meteoric industrial growth from the 1970s through the 90s.
Some see Daewoo as a victim of the government's shift of policy to end cash
injections to troubled conglomerates.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
