Court: "Former Chairman Seon Jong-gu Must Return 9 Billion Won to Hi-Mart"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The court has ruled that former Hi-Mart Chairman Seon Jong-gu must return 9 billion won in improperly increased compensation during his tenure at the company.

According to the legal community on the 21st, the Seoul High Court Civil Division 11 (Presiding Judges Cha Mun-ho, Lee Yang-hee, Kim Kyung-ae) ruled in a lawsuit filed by Lotte Hi-Mart against former Chairman Seon, ordering him to pay approximately 9.07 billion won to the plaintiff. However, regarding the counterclaim filed by former Chairman Seon, who argued that he did not receive retirement pay from the company, the court ordered the company to pay 2.6 billion won.

Lotte Hi-Mart claimed that former Chairman Seon significantly increased his salary without board approval from February 2008 to April 2011, demanding 18.26 billion won in improperly increased compensation. Additionally, they claimed about 80 million won paid from company funds as salary for the spouse’s driver.

In the first trial, former Chairman Seon won. The court found that the salary increase was lawfully made and that retirement pay had not been paid. However, it recognized that the retirement pay for the driver was improperly paid, approving about 5.1 billion won of the 5.2 billion won claimed by former Chairman Seon.

The second trial ruling changed. It was determined that 1.4 billion won paid from January to April 2011 among the increased salary was not specifically approved at the shareholders' meeting.

The retrial court, following the Supreme Court’s prior ruling, found the increased compensation of 18.26 billion won to be improper. It ruled that former Chairman Seon must return approximately 11.58 billion won, which is the amount actually received after deducting about 6.6 billion won in withholding tax from the 18.26 billion won. However, the court also found that Lotte Hi-Mart is responsible for paying about 5.2 billion won in retirement pay to former Chairman Seon. It then offset half of the retirement pay claim, about 2.6 billion won, and ruled that former Chairman Seon must pay the remaining approximately 9.07 billion won, while Lotte Hi-Mart must pay the remaining retirement pay claim of about 2.6 billion won.

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