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Tue, May 24, 2022 | 17:08
Business
GS builder faces class action lawsuit
법원, 증권투자자들 GS건설 상대 집단소송 허가
Posted : 2015-02-13 16:54
Updated : 2015-02-13 20:04
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By Kim Jae-won

GS E&C faces a class action suit for losses a group of individual investors suffered as the result of allegedly deceptive notices made through the stock market.

The Seoul Central District Court said Friday that it accepted a petition by 15 investors against the construction unit of GS Group for losses inflicted on some 10,000 individual stock investors due to the company's purported false public notices with the Korea Exchange.

The court said it will examine whether the company is liable for the losses.

By law, securities-related class action suits require a court's acceptance before filing a lawsuit.

"It is hard to say that investors' claim is a baseless rumor, according to postings of GS E&C and other documents. The court will deal with issues of compensation liability and the size later in hearings," said the court in a statement.

Shares of GS E&C dropped 40 percent in two weeks in April 2013 as the company estimated its operating loss at 535.4 billion won in the first quarter of the year. The announcement came as an earning shock to investors because the company said two weeks before that its operating income marked 160.3 billion won in the previous year.

Hannuri Law, the legal representative of the investors, said GS E&C committed accounting fraud to hide that the company won plant construction orders below market prices.

"GS E&C could win orders for plant construction in foreign countries by lowering expenses and the prices of raw materials. The company had kept that a secret through accounting fraud, and suddenly announced that it would post a huge loss in the quarter," said Lim Jin-sung, an attorney at Hannuri in charge of the case.

Lim said that the circumstantial evidence seemed to show that the company has been overstating its revenue and operating income by underestimating the relevant overseas construction costs until 2012 and reflected all at once the previously hidden loss in the first quarter of 2013 by adjusting the expected construction costs.

The Financial Services Commission imposed a 2 billion-won fine on the company in April 2014 for not reporting its poor operating results in plant construction and the issuance of 500 billon won in promissory notes. The decision came one month after a former GS E&C CEO was fined 10 million won for the same violation.

GS E&C said it will decide on its legal action after reviewing the court's statement.

"We are not giving the statement yet. We will decide after reviewing it," said Kim Chang-tae, a GS E&C spokesman.

GS E&C has been involving in many overseas construction projects, which account for nearly 40 percent of the total revenue of the company.


법원, 증권투자자들 GS건설 상대 집단소송 허가

서울중앙지법 민사합의22부(박형준 부장판사)는 개인투자자 15명이 'GS건설의 허위 공시를 보고 주식을 매수해 손해를 입었다'며 GS건설을 상대로 낸 집단소송을 허가했다고 13일 밝혔다.

재판부는 'GS건설의 여러 공시 내용이나 소명 자료에 의하면 집단소송 제기자들의 주장이 단순한 의혹이나 추측에 불과한 것이라고 치부하기 어렵다'며 '손해배상책임의 발생 여부나 범위와 관련해 추후 본안 소송 단계에서 판단돼야 할 사항'이라고 설명했다. 

'증권 관련 집단소송' 제도는 증권시장에서 발생하는 기업의 허위공시·시세조종 등 불법행위로 소액투자자들이 피해를 봤을 때 이들을 구제하는 제도로 2005년부터 시행됐다. 

손해를 입은 증권투자자 집단 중 일부가 법원의 허가를 얻어 소송을 수행하면 그 판결이 소송에 직접 참여하지 않은 다른 피해자들에게도 효력을 미치게 돼 다수의 소액투자자들이 개별적인 소송절차 없이 구제받을 수 있다.

GS건설은 플랜트 건설 공사의 원가에 대한 회계 처리를 잘못해 2013년 3월 29일 공시한 사업보고서에 전년도의 영업이익이 1천603억원이라고 썼다가 12일 뒤에는 그 해 1분기 영업손실이 5천354억을 기록할 전망이라고 잠정 실적을 공시했다.

개인투자자들은 GS건설이 앞서 공시한 사업보고서를 보고 이 회사의 주식을 사들였는데, 잠정실적공시 이후 주가가 큰 폭으로 하락해 손해를 봤다.

금융위원회는 이 사건을 조사해 지난해 4월 'GS건설이 이미 2013년 1월 말께 플랜트 부문에서 추가로 6천억원가량 실적이 떨어질 가능성이 있음을 알고 경영계획 및 자금조달 계획에 반영했음에도 이를 증권신고서의 투자위험요소에 기재하지 않았다'며 과징금 20억원을 부과했다. (연합뉴스)
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