Taekwang engulfed in inheritance war
By Kim Tae-jong
Lee Ho-jin, former Taekwang Group chairman
Children of the Taekwang Group founder are engaged in a legal battle over their late father’s legacy.
According to the Seoul Central District Court, Lee Jae-hoon, the second daughter of Tawkwang Group’s founder Lee Im-yong, has recently filed a suit against her brother and former group chairman Ho-jin, belatedly demanding the return of part of the inheritance left by their father.
She is now demanding shares of the group’s affiliates as well as 7.86 billion won, which she claims her brother secretly pocketed.
Jae-hoon said in a petition that her younger brother concealed a large number of stocks of the group’s affiliates, which their father held under the names of other people.
After he died in 1996, the 50-year-old brother, who succeeded as the group’s chairman, secretly incorporated the hidden stocks into his assets without telling other family members about them, she added.
She claimed that their existence had been exposed through the prosecution’s investigation into allegations of corruption by her brother.
“Ho-jin has violated my inheritance rights by secretly keeping our father’s legacy, which was not properly passed on to his children after his death in 1996,” Jae-hoon said.
Ho-jin was under investigation for a slew of irregularities, including doctoring financial records and embezzling 40 billion won from company coffers.
In February, he resigned as group chairman, a year after prosecutors indicted him and other members of the group’s founding family in a high-profile corruption scandal.
In the first trial, he was sentenced to four years and six months in prison with a 2 billion won fine, which he has appealed against. Prosecutors are now seeking a seven year prison term for him and a 7 billion won fine at the appellate court.
The legal dispute at the Taekwang family is similar to one at the Samsung Group.
In February, Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee was sued by his brother and sister, who are belatedly demanding a share of their inheritance from their father and Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull. Lee's nephews also lodged a similar suit against the chairman.
His eldest brother Lee Maeng-hee and elder sister Lee Sook-hee are demanding the chairman, the third son of the group founder, share part of the sum their father passed on to him before dying in 1987.