ED Shame on Samsung

IT giant representing Korea ought to behave better

Samsung BioLogics was caught hiding its high-capacity server and some employees' laptop computers under the floor of its factory in Songdo, Incheon, in May last year. Around the same time, an employee of its subsidiary, Samsung Bioepis, was also found to have a company server concealed at his home. The two firms, biopharmaceutical units of Samsung Group, are under investigation for accounting fraud.

We have to be disappointed when looking at how the two affiliates of the global business group were so desperate to destroy evidence that they had to remove their factory floor. We are also ashamed not only of their unethical behavior but the lowly, pathetic way they coped with a crisis.

Samsung BioLogics is suspected of window-dressing its books to help ease the transfer of management control from Lee Kun-hee to his son Jae-yong. In 2015 when the former Cheil Industries was merged into Samsung C&T, the group was accused of inflating the asset value of Samsung BioLogics, then a subsidiary of Cheil Industries.

Whether and how much Samsung Group resorted to unlawful means in the management succession process will be uncovered in the course of the investigation and any subsequent trials. Given the facts that have already been made public, however, we find it difficult to conceal our disappointment. By its size and reputation, Samsung should remain an enterprise admired and recognized not just by Koreans but by its global customers as well. If the group is found to have been bent on protecting the interests of large shareholders without a modicum of ethics, Samsung will hardly be able to expect any local support.

Now the prosecutors' attention is moving toward Samsung's “top managers.” Law enforcement officers have reportedly uncovered circumstantial evidence that some executives in the taskforce that support the business of Samsung Electronics, the group's flagship company, were involved in the destruction of evidence.

To maintain its reputation, Samsung should comply with the investigation in a fair and square manner, and take due responsibility if it committed any wrongdoing. If the nation's largest and most famous company keeps asking for leniency without showing a minimal sense of honor, it will be hard for Koreans to expect a bright future for both the company and corporate Korea.