Prosecutors indict Hanjin group chairman without detention

By Lim Chang-won Posted : October 15, 2018, 14:28 Updated : October 15, 2018, 14:28

[Yonhap Photo]


SEOUL -- Cho Yang-ho, the chairman of South Korea's Hanjin group which controls Korean Air, will stand trial without being detained after prosecutors indicted him on embezzlement and other charges. 

Cho, 69, is suspected of awarding improper contracts to companies controlled by his family and using a borrowed name to run a pharmacy illegally. Initially, Cho was accused of evading an inheritance tax when his father and founder of Hanjin died in 2002, but prosecutors said the statute of limitations expired in March 2014.

Hanjin has seen its image plunging due to a scandal involving the chairman's youngest daughter, Cho Hyun-min, who allegedly threw a glass cup and sprayed plum juice during a business meeting with advertising agency officials on March 16. She told investigators that she lost her temper because the advertising company did not properly answer her questions. The daughter was not indicted because the victims did not want her punishment.

The scandal fueled widespread public anger, leading to multiple investigations into illegal activities by the chairman's wife and two daughters who have been questioned on charges of creating a slush fund, evading taxes, bringing in luxury foreign goods illegally, abusing and assaulting company employees and others.

Despite strong public demands for punishment, no family members have been arrested yet as court judges were reluctant to issue arrest warrants, citing no possibility of running away or destroying evidence.
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