Three business executives convicted of embezzlement and fraud will be excluded from special pardons expected to be issued later this month, justice ministry officials said Tuesday.
In South Korea, the government has often granted special pardons to imprisoned business executives, politicians and other offenders at the start of a new year to reward good behavior and foster national harmony.
The Ministry of Justice said that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and his younger brother and the group’s vice chairman Chey Jae-won, and Koo Bon-sang, vice chairman of LIG Nex1, were excluded from evaluation process expected early next week.
On Monday, President Park Geun-hye, in her New Year’s press conference, said the ministry should make a decision based on the public’s legal sentiment and fairness on the issue of releasing business tycoons.
Chey Tae-won was convicted of embezzling 46.5 billion won ($43.6 million) from two SK Group affiliates, including top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co., and funneling the funds into personal investments in stock futures and options in 2008. He has been serving a four-year term since January 2013.
The younger Chey was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for conspiring with the elder Chey in the embezzlement scheme.
The Supreme Court also upheld a four-year prison term handed down to Koo last year for fraudulently issuing commercial papers worth about 215 billion won.
It was somewhat customary for outgoing presidents to pardon their friends and associates jailed for corruption, stoking controversy that the measure fosters persistent corruption among political and business elite by allowing the well-connected to escape justice.
Park, who has been critical of issuing special pardons recklessly, earlier promised to exercise the right in an extremely restrictive manner. (Yonhap)
