Seven jailed in Hyundai cash-for-favors scandal
A South Korean court yesterday jailed seven people for accepting kickbacks from South Korea's leading automaker Hyundai Motor in exchange for business favors.
The jail terms were handed down one week before the company's chief Chung Mong-koo is set to appear for sentencing for alleged embezzlement and breach of trust.
The Seoul Central District Court found that the seven including Park Sang-bae, former vice-governor of the state-run Korea Development Bank, guilty of taking kickbacks.
Park was jailed for six years for receiving 1.45 billion won ($1.54 million) from Kim Dong-hoon, an accountant who acted as a middleman for Hyundai Motor.
Kim was given a two-year jail term for bribing government officials, bankers and others to help Hyundai Motor shrink debts for one of its ailing affiliates in 2002.
Five others received lesser jail terms.
Ex-gov't official acquitted
The court acquitted former assistant finance minister Byeon Yang-ho of receiving 200 million won in return for providing favors to the automaker.
"The court cannot accept Kim's testimony, which was used by prosecutors as their only evidence to back charges against Byeon but lacked consistency," judge Lee Jong-seok said in his ruling.
The court found Kim Pyong-Ki, head of WIA Corp, an auto parts and machinery arm of the Hyundai auto group, guilty of paying bribes but suspended his two-year jail sentence.
Prosecutors had called for a six-year jail sentence for company chief Chung, accusing him of embezzling 63 billion won through fradulent accounting to bribe politicians and officials.
They also suspect he used part of the money to ease the illicit transfer of corporate wealth and management control to his son.
Chung could face a life sentence if convicted on all counts but high-profile business leaders have often received lenient sentences in the past. He was freed on bail in June last year.
Hyundai Motor, the world's seventh largest automaker, controls more than 70 percent of the South Korean car market.
AFP
(China Daily 01/30/2007 page16)
