Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
GM Korea protests prosecution's travel ban on CEO
GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
GM Korea said it would take legal action against the prosecution's recent travel ban on its CEO, Kaher Kazem.
“We are exploring all possible measures to protest the prosecution's deeply regretful and unreasonable move,” an official of the Korean unit of the U.S.-headquartered carmaker said, Monday.
The comment came hours after the prosecution imposed the travel ban on Kazem, who has been appointed to lead the global carmaker's Shanghai office starting on June 1. The U.S. head office said on March 5 (local time) that Kazem was to join SAIC General Motors Corporation Limited, a joint venture between GM and SAIC Motor.
This travel ban is the third move by the prosecution since November 2019, when it opened an investigation into GM Korea and four of its officials, including Kazem.
The four ― as well as the corporate entity ― are standing criminal trial for the illegal control and supervision of 1,700 irregular workers hired by GM Korea's subcontractors between 2017 and 2019 after sending them to work at its plants in Incheon, Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province and Gunsan in North Jeolla Province.
The prosecution's decision is all the more unreasonable, the official added, since the CEO has fully complied with summons requests over the past 16 months.
“Not once has Kazem failed to appear before the court or the prosecutors for the investigation. He is not a Korean and has to make frequent trips overseas. The ban therefore is no less severe than physical detention,” he said.
The response followed the prosecution's second ban last May, only a month after a local administrative court ruled in favor of Kazem, who filed a suit to annul the ban.
The U.S. head office has yet to finalize Kazem's successor, and no one will be eager to come to the country, seeing how things are playing out for the current CEO.
“The issue of illegal supervision involving partner firms' hiring long predates the appointment of Kazem to lead the Korean office. It is a highly concerning series of developments to the head office and officials in Korea,” the official said.