BBQ Chairman Yoon Hong-geun's Third Trial... A New Phase with Witness Appearance?

BBQ "Will Be Proven Innocent Through Legal Procedures"

Yoon Hong-geun, chairman of Genesis BBQ, who is accused of breach of trust, will attend the third trial on the 20th.

Yoon Hong-geun, Chairman of Genesis BBQ, is walking to Courtroom 1 at Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch on the 8th of last month for the second trial on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust). Photo by Moon Hye-won

On that day, Chairman Yoon will appear as a suspect at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch for the third trial regarding the violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust), which is being conducted through a witness summons.

At the second trial held on the 8th of last month, a dispute arose between the prosecution and the defendant’s side during the process of applying for witnesses to appear for the prosecution’s witness examination. The prosecution argued that the appearance of witnesses was inevitable due to newly revealed facts, but Chairman Yoon’s side opposed, claiming that the witness appearance was an unnecessary procedure.

Accordingly, the court decided to make the final judgment on whether to allow the witness application, and it is known that the court ultimately decided to permit the witness appearance.

Chairman Yoon is accused of causing damage to the company by having Genesis, the holding company of BBQ, lend several billion won of company funds to his personal company J Corporation from 2013 to 2016 and failing to recover a significant amount. J Corporation is a company established in July 2013 with 100% investment by the Yoon family and is not an affiliate of Genesis or BBQ. Later, J Corporation was sold due to reasons such as capital erosion.

The Criminal Division 2 of the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chairman Yoon without detention in January on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust).

The investigation into former Chairman Yoon began when bhc, a competitor in the chicken industry, filed a complaint with the Seongnam Sujeong Police Station in April 2021, alleging that "Chairman Yoon caused damage by lending about 8.3 billion won of company funds to a personal company unrelated to BBQ."

After investigating for over a year, the police decided not to prosecute in July last year, but bhc appealed against this decision in August of the same year. The prosecution, which took over the case, reinforced the investigation and judged that there was a breach of trust by Chairman Yoon, forwarding the case to trial.

The Genesis BBQ Group responded by stating, "This is an excessive prosecution case with no actual victims, no damage amount, and no social damage, caused by a competitor’s slanderous accusation," and added, "It will be proven innocent through legal procedures going forward."

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