[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon]Choi Saeng-gyu, the founder and former chairman of toy company Sonokong, was recently cleared of allegations of embezzlement and breach of trust involving company funds after being reported to the prosecution.
According to industry sources on the 27th, the prosecution concluded after over a year of investigation that there was no evidence of wrongdoing related to the accusation that Choi used company money for his mother's 100th birthday celebration event in 2011.
Earlier, in February last year, an employee of Choi's personal corporation filed a complaint with the prosecution accusing him of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
At that time, the employee claimed in the complaint that Choi spent over 100 million won of company funds on expenses such as 87 million won for hiring famous trot singers and rental fees for the 63 Building for his mother's 99th birthday celebration event. There were also allegations that Choi bought foreign luxury cars for his children using company money. These claims were exclusively reported by a media outlet at the time.
In response, Choi's side stated, "One of the employees had previously been imprisoned for embezzlement and filed a false accusation after being released, which caused this issue," adding, "We submitted evidence proving that the costs for the mother's 100th birthday celebration were handled as personal expenses, which was verified by the prosecution." However, regarding the media reports at the time, they requested a correction through the Korea Press Arbitration Commission but stated that the matter was not effectively resolved.
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