SK Chief Gets Suspended Jail Term
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The Supreme Court Thursday upheld an appellate court ruling that gave a suspended jail term to the chairman of SK Group Chey Tae-won, ending a five-year-long legal battle on his conviction for breach of trust and embezzlement.
The court finalized the prior ruling of three years in prison suspended for five years imposed on the head of the nation's fourth largest conglomerate.
Chey was indicted without physical detention in 2003 on charges of cooking the books of SK Networks (then SK Global) ― the group's energy development unit ― to falsely increase its annual income to 1.5 trillion won ($1.5 billion) and overvaluing the unlisted shares of the Sheraton Walkerhill Hotel in a bid to maintain the group's ownership.
A provincial court sentenced him to three years in prison, but an appellate court suspended the term for five years, saying ``He was not solely responsible for the illegalities. The damage he caused was while he was striving to normalize a crippled company. In addition, he vowed to run the company transparently.''
The court also upheld suspended jail terms given to nine executives of the company including former group Chairman Son Kil-seung. They were indicted on charges of assisting in Chey's wrongdoings.