Prosecutors Summarily Indict Kumho Petrochemical's Park Chan-gu for Omitting Family-Affiliated Companies

Park Chan-gu, chairman of Kumho Petrochemical Group, was referred to a summary trial on charges of omitting companies owned by his brother-in-law's family from a Fair Trade Commission report.

Prosecutor's Office [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 31st, the Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Jeong-seop) filed a summary indictment against Chairman Park the previous day, requesting a fine of 150 million won for violating the Fair Trade Act.

A summary indictment is a procedure in which the prosecution requests the court to impose a fine or penalty through written examination instead of a formal trial. Chairman Park is accused of omitting four companies?Gino Motors, Gino Trading, Jeongjin Logistics, and JS Pacific?from the materials submitted to the Fair Trade Commission between 2018 and 2021 for designation as a large business group.

Gino Motors and Gino Trading are companies 100% owned by Chairman Park's eldest brother-in-law and his spouse and children, while Jeongjin Logistics and JS Pacific are 100% owned by his second brother-in-law and his spouse and children, making them subject to Fair Trade Commission reporting. The Fair Trade Commission reported Chairman Park to the prosecution on the 8th, citing the omission period of some companies lasting six years, the receipt of tax benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises, and the significant possibility that he was aware of the falsification of submitted data.