Former Aekyung CEO Guilty in First Trial for Bribery to Block Summons in Humidifier Disinfectant Hearing

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Former Aekyung Industrial CEO Lee Yoon-kyu, who was indicted on charges of giving bribes to a broker to prevent the owner family from being summoned to the humidifier disinfectant incident hearing, was sentenced to a suspended prison term in the first trial.

According to the legal community on the 26th, Judge Lee Ki-hong of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 24 sentenced former CEO Lee, who was indicted for embezzlement in the course of business, to 8 months in prison with a 2-year suspension. The court pointed out, "The defendant planned an act that could undermine fairness at the stage when the special committee to investigate the humidifier disinfectant damage, a social disaster, was launched, and misappropriated company funds for that act."

Former CEO Lee was indicted for embezzling 60 million won of company funds in 2018 and giving it to a broker to prevent the owner family, including former Aekyung Industrial Vice Chairman Ahn Yong-chan, from appearing at the special committee hearing on the humidifier disinfectant incident. Broker Yang, a former aide to a member of the National Assembly who received bribes from Aekyung Industrial, was found guilty of receiving money in exchange for preventing summons to the hearing (acceptance of bribery) and was sentenced to 2 years in prison by the Supreme Court in March.

Former Vice Chairman Ahn Yong-chan and other former executives of Aekyung Industrial are also on trial for negligence causing death and injury in the course of business for failing to properly verify the safety of humidifier disinfectants using chloromethylisothiazolinone (CMIT) and methylisothiazolinone (MIT).

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