Ailing CJ chief to be pardoned
By Lee Hyo-sik
CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun will soon be a free man as the government
has decided to include the ailing business tycoon on the list of inmates who will be granted pardons ahead of Liberation Day on Aug. 15.
The food-and-entertainment-focused conglomerate continues to remain cautious about the matter, only saying that it is closely monitoring the situation until Lee’s expected pardon is finalized.
According to the Ministry of Justice, Wednesday, an ad-hoc pardon review committee held a meeting a day earlier and reached the consensus to include the CJ chairman among the upcoming special presidential pardons.
The ministry plans to forward the list to a cabinet meeting Friday for approval. Once approved, the names of people to be released on pardons will be made public.
Committee members reportedly reached a conclusion that Lee wouldn’t be able to stay behind bars for two-and-a-half years, given his deteriorating health.
They also took into consideration that the chairman paid a 25.2 billion won fine as soon as he dropped an appeal to the Supreme Court on July 19. The move was widely seen as an attempt to have himself included on the list of inmates eligible for special presidential pardons.
At the time, some civic groups criticized Lee, arguing that he shouldn’t be given a pardon because he spent only four months in jail.
Last November, the CJ chairman’s sentence was imposed after he was found guilty of embezzlement, breach of trust and tax evasion was upheld by the Seoul High Court.
“We are not in a position to comment on the issue because Chairman Lee’s pardon has not been finalized yet,” a CJ Group official said. “What we can do is monitor the situation and keep our fingers crossed for his release.”
The chairman has been hospitalized at Seoul National University Hospital for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, chronic renal failure and the side effects of a kidney transplant.
CJ claims the chairman’s mental health has also deteriorated over the years due to the prolonged legal battle, the death of his father last August and other unfavorable events.
Meanwhile, it is still unknown whether Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn and SK Group Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won will be included among the planned presidential pardons.
Kim hasn’t been able to assume an official post since February 2014 when he was released after being sentenced to a three-year jail term, suspended for five years, on charges of breach of trust.
This time, Hanwha Group has high expectations for the reinstatement of Kim’s civil rights so that he can formally manage Korea’s ninth-largest family-controlled conglomerate.
SK Group is also hoping that Chey, who was released on parole on July 29, will be granted a pardon. The prison term for the vice chairman, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in April 2014 for embezzling and misappropriating 46.5 billion won in company money, will end Oct. 20.
During President Park’s term, which began in February 2013, jailed business tycoons have been repeatedly denied parole or special pardons, due to unfavorable public sentiment toward their release before the end of their jail terms. SK Chairman Chey Tae-won is the only one to be pardoned by the Park administration last year.