Former Kumho Asiana Chairman Park Sam-gu's First Trial Today... Charges of Violating Fair Trade Act and Specific Economic Crimes Act

Former Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-gu, who is suspected of unfairly supporting affiliates, is attending the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on the 12th of last month. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The trial of former Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-gu, who was detained and indicted on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust amounting to thousands of billions of won, including 'unfair support to affiliates,' will begin on the 11th.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 24 (Chief Judge Jo Yong-rae) will hold the first preparatory hearing for Park, who was detained and indicted on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (Specific Economic Crimes Act) and violations of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act (Fair Trade Act), starting at 10 a.m. on that day.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 24, which will preside over this trial, is a specialized court for economic cases. The presiding judge is Yang Seok-yong.

The preparatory hearing is a procedure where the court listens to the opinions of both the prosecution and defense and discusses the plan for evidence presentation; the defendant is not required to attend.

Earlier, the Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Min-hyung) detained and indicted former Chairman Park on the 26th of last month on charges of violating the Specific Economic Crimes Act (embezzlement and breach of trust) and the Fair Trade Act.

At that time, the prosecution additionally indicted former Kumho Asiana Group Executive Director Yoon, who was detained and indicted in January on charges of evidence destruction, on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust under the Specific Economic Crimes Act, while Strategy Management Director Park and Strategy Management Planning and Finance Executive Director Kim were indicted without detention.

Former Chairman Park is accused of withdrawing 330 billion won from four affiliates, including Kumho Terminal, at the end of 2015 and using it to pay for the acquisition of Kumho Industrial shares held by creditors such as the Korea Development Bank.

The prosecution believes that former Chairman Park committed various illegal acts, including embezzling affiliate funds, to rebuild the group and regain management rights.

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