No parole for jailed biz tycoons

By Lee Hyo-sik

SK Group Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won and former LIG Nex1 Vice Chairman Koo Bon-sang were excluded by the Ministry of Justice from a list of convicted offenders to be released on parole Monday, ahead of the Independence Movement Day on March 1.

The local business sector was paying closer attention to whether the jailed business tycoons, who have served most of their terms, would be allowed to get out on parole.

But they failed to secure early release because the government subjected them to stricter standards than other inmates convicted of minor crimes.

Chey was sentenced to three and a half years for embezzling and misappropriating 46.5 billion won in company money. He has so far served 37 of 42 months.

Koo has served 40 months of his four-year term. He was put behind bars on fraud charges for deceiving investors into purchasing the group’s fraudulent commercial papers.

Under the law, inmates are eligible for parole once they have served more than one-third of their prison sentences, suggesting that Chey and Koo could have been released much earlier. But mindful of negative public sentiment against leniency toward white-collar crimes, the government has been reluctant to grant them parole.

The justice ministry said it granted parole to 636 prisoners for good behavior, a day ahead of the March 1 holiday. The ministry’s parole board held a meeting on Feb. 23 and finalized the list of inmates for parole, which was then approved by the justice minister.

But the ministry was said to have remained unwilling to include Chey, Koo and other influential business and political figures on the list because of largely negative public sentiment toward white-collar criminals.

SK Group said it had not expected its vice chairman to be included on its latest parole list.

“The justice ministry tends to apply harsher standards to socially influential figures when drawing up the list of parolees,” a group official said. “It will be unlikely for Chey and other business tycoons to be released before their prison terms end.”

An executive at one of the country’s major business associations expressed regret over the justice ministry’s decision, saying that business leaders should be treated equally under the law.

“We cannot tell the justice ministry how to do its job. It is just unfortunate that parole wasn’t granted to those who deserve it,” the executive said. “Just because they are members of chaebol families, we cannot discriminate against them. They should be treated the same as anyone else. It would have been much better to see them get out and manage their companies and contribute to the economy.”