DL Chairman Lee Hae-uk Sentenced to 200 Million Won Fine in First Trial for Unfair Support to Affiliates
Lee Hae-wook, chairman of DL Group, who was indicted on charges of unfairly supporting a private company by mobilizing group affiliates, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing held on the 27th at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@
View original image[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Lee Hae-wook, chairman of DL Group, was sentenced to a fine of 200 million KRW by the first trial court for unfairly supporting affiliated companies.
On the 27th, Judge Kim Jun-hyuk of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 5 sentenced Chairman Lee, who was indicted for violating the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. DL Group, which was also indicted, was fined 50 million KRW, and Glad Hotel & Resort was fined 30 million KRW. The court stated the reason for sentencing, saying, "The defendant seems to have anticipated the possibility of illegality to some extent during the business process," and "Considering the legislative purpose of the Fair Trade Act, which regulates private interests through unfair internal transactions, severe punishment is necessary for the defendant's crime in this case."
Chairman Lee was indicted for transferring the trademark rights of the group’s hotel brand 'Glad' to APD, a company wholly owned by him and his son, and allowing the subsidiary Ora Tourism (currently Glad Hotel & Resort) to use it, violating the Fair Trade Act. He was also charged with having Ora Tourism pay approximately 3.1 billion KRW in fees to APD under the name of brand usage rights.
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Earlier, the Korea Fair Trade Commission regarded the fees paid by Ora Tourism to APD as excessively high and considered it an "unfair provision of benefits to related parties" under the Fair Trade Act. In May 2019, the commission reported Chairman Lee and related companies to the prosecution. After receiving the report and reviewing the case, the prosecution indicted Chairman Lee and others in December of the same year. In the previous sentencing hearing, the prosecution requested a prison sentence of 1 year and 6 months for Chairman Lee and fines of 100 million KRW each for DL Group and Glad Hotel & Resort.
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