Top court finalizes suspended prison term for Hyosung vice chief after 12-year legal battle

The Supreme Court on Thursday finalized a suspended prison term of 2 1/2 years for Hyosung Group Vice Chairman Lee Sang-woon, concluding a lengthy corruption case that began over a decade ago.

Lee was indicted in 2014 alongside the group's late former Chairman Cho Seok-rae on charges of evading 123.7 billion won ($92.5 million) in corporate taxes through a 501 billion-won accounting fraud scheme and avoiding 11 billion won in capital gains tax via stock trading under a borrowed name.

They were also accused of siphoning off 69.8 billion won from an overseas Hyosung subsidiary through a Hong Kong paper company and inflicting a 23.3 billion-won loss on the firm by writing off the paper company's debt using funds from a Singaporean subsidiary.

In the first and second instances, Lee was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, suspended for four years. During the first Supreme Court ruling in December 2020, part of the case was sent back for a retrial and the appellate court maintained the suspended term.

Both the prosecution and Lee appealed the ruling, but the Supreme Court dismissed it and finalized the sentence Thursday, saying the lower court's decision contained no legal errors.