Stelladaisyho Shipping Company Executives Referred Without Detention on Charges of Breach of Trust

The management of the shipping company Polaris Shipping was handed over to the prosecution on the 21st on charges of embezzlement amounting to 50 billion won.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the police on the day, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency sent Polaris Shipping co-CEOs Kim Wan-jung and Han Hee-seung to the prosecution without detention on charges of embezzlement.

Earlier, CEO Kim and others are accused of embezzling about 50 billion won of Polaris Shipping's funds under the name of loans to the holding company Polar Energy & Marine for the purpose of defending management rights, causing damage to the company.

Last August, the police conducted an investigation including a search and seizure of Polaris Shipping's office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and in May, they applied for an arrest warrant for CEO Kim and others. However, the prosecution did not request the arrest warrant.

Polaris Shipping is the shipowner of the Stella Daisy, which sank in the South Atlantic Ocean while carrying 260,000 tons of iron ore in March 2017, and 22 out of 24 crew members went missing in the accident.

CEO Kim was sentenced to six months in prison by the Supreme Court last month for failing to report ship defects (violation of the Ship Safety Act). He was also indicted on charges including professional negligence causing death and professional negligence causing shipwreck, and the Busan District Court sentenced him to three years in prison in the first trial in February.