Shareholders file lawsuit against jailed Hanwha chairman

Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, who is behind bars on breach of trust charges, has been slapped with compensation suit by shareholders, court records showed Tuesday.

In the lawsuit filed with the Seoul Central District Court, 10 minority shareholders of the country's 10th-largest conglomerate demanded 195.9 billion won ($173 million) in compensation, arguing that Chairman Kim inflicted massive financial losses to the group's subsidiaries.

The 60-year-old tycoon was sentenced to four years in prison and 5.1 billion won in fines last week for using his status as the group's controlling shareholder to support Hanwha subsidiaries that he ran under other people's names.

"Chairman Kim should be held liable for his crime that caused huge losses to the group," the plaintiffs argued in the petition.(Yonhap)