Supreme Court Orders Retrial on Legality of Suspension of Anjin Accounting Firm's Operations

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The Supreme Court has ruled that the legality of the suspension order imposed on Deloitte Anjin Accounting Firm for allegedly condoning Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering's multi-trillion won accounting fraud must be reconsidered.

The Supreme Court's Special Division 2 (Presiding Justice Sanghwan Kim) overturned the lower court's ruling that dismissed Deloitte Anjin's appeal against the Financial Services Commission's suspension order and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court on the 7th. The court stated, "Even if the audit team's violations are acknowledged, there appears to be room for debate on whether suspending the entire accounting firm's operations constitutes a disproportionate punishment violating the principle of proportionality."

Previously, in 2017, the Securities and Futures Commission under the Financial Services Commission determined that Deloitte Anjin had been fully aware of and had condoned and abetted Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering management's accounting fraud amounting to 2 trillion won, and imposed a one-year suspension order. Deloitte Anjin filed a cancellation lawsuit in response. The first trial court ruled in favor of Deloitte Anjin, but the second trial court dismissed the case, stating that the suspension period had already expired and the case no longer had practical benefits.

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