Hyundai head Mong-koo Chung will remain a free man as South Korea’s High Court ruled on Tuesday to uphold his three-year suspended jail sentence. Chung was facing jail time on a fraud charge. Despite the conviction, Hyundai’s shareholders recently voted to reinstate Chung to the company’s board.
The ruling alleviated concerns about a power vacuum at the world’s sixth largest automaker, but many feel Chung is receiving special treatment. “Once again, chaebols’ (a term for family-run conglomerates) wrongdoings are being overlooked,” Rhie Sang-min, coordinator at People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a group that is advocating chaebol reform, told Automotive News. “The reason chaebol chiefs keep embezzling company money is that courts are wielding a cotton bat.”
The ruling judge acknowledged Chung’s crime, but said the punishment wasn’t as harsh because the crime was committed for the business rather than for personal gains. “(Chung) did embezzle a large sum of money, but it was mostly used in running the business, not for personal purposes,” said Kil Ki-bong, the presiding judge at the Seoul High Court.
Prosecutors were originally looking for a six-year jail sentence.
