‘Ilgam Molajugi’ LS Family Denies Charges in Court... Request for Schedule Postponement Rejected

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The LS Group's founding family, indicted on charges of 'preferential treatment in business transactions,' denied the allegations in court and claimed innocence.

At the first pretrial hearing held on the 25th at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 34 (Presiding Judge Heo Seon-ah), the defense attorneys of Koo Ja-hong, Chairman of LS Nikko Copper Inc., Koo Ja-yeop, Chairman of LS Cable & System, and Koo Ja-eun, Chairman of LS Mtron, stated, "Our position is that there is no proof of crime in this case or that the acts do not constitute a crime, and therefore the defendants are not guilty."

The defense further added, "The acts in question do not constitute unfair support or toll transactions."

Unlike formal trial dates, defendants are not required to appear in person at pretrial hearings, so Chairman Koo Ja-hong and others did not appear in court, with only their attorneys present.

The prosecution judged that the LS Group and its founding family inserted LS Global into the trading of electrolytic copper (the raw material for wires refined from copper ore) for about 14 years since 2006, receiving 'toll fees' and thereby providing business worth approximately 25.5 billion KRW.

At the time of its establishment in December 2005, LS held 51% of LS Global's shares, while 12 members of the founding family, including Chairman Koo Ja-yeop, held 49%.

The prosecution also believes that the LS Group's founding family sold all shares of LS Global to LS in November 2011, realizing a profit of about 9.3 billion KRW.

Earlier, the Fair Trade Commission detected signs of unfair support by the LS Group in 2018, imposed a fine of 26 billion KRW, and reported the related parties to the prosecution.

An appeal against this disposition is currently underway at the Seoul High Court.

On this day, the founding family's defense requested the court to schedule the criminal trial after the administrative lawsuit proceedings conclude at the end of October, but the request was denied.

The court decided to hold the second pretrial hearing on October 13.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.