Shares Rallied whilst Chaebol Chiefs Were behind Bars
Shares Rallied whilst Chaebol Chiefs Were behind Bars
  • By Oh Hae-young (info@koreaittimes.com)
  • 승인 2015.08.05 11:36
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Shares of chaebols (e.g. SK, CJ, Hanwha) whose chiefs frequented courtrooms for white collar crimes rose much more sharply than those of other chaebols.

Shares of SK Group, Hanwha Group and CJ Group gained 33.3%, 31.1% and 21.2% respectively between the end of 2011 and the end of 2014, according to the data which lawmaker Park Young-sun of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) obtained from Korea Exchange (KRX) on August 4.

Their shares clearly ascended far more steeply than other chaebols’ over the past three years. Shares of Samsung, LG and Lotte climbed 13.6%, 7.4% and 1.0% while those of Hyundai Motor shed 7.6% during the same period.

Lawmaker Park argued that the claim that letting convicted chaebol chiefs off the judicial hook would result in spurring an economic recovery is implausible.

“The assertion that pardons for convicted chaebol chiefs will contribute to the promotion of national unity and economic revitalization is completely groundless. Such pardons will only fuel public distrust in the judicial system, making more people believe that there's one law for the rich and another for the poor.” Lawmaker Park argued.

“Rather than pampering convicted chaebol chiefs under the pretext of rejuvenating the economy, the S. Korean president has to forge ahead with economic democratization and chaebol reform, two of her campaign pledges, so as to put an end to the problem of "arbitrary imperial rule" by chaebol bosses,” Park added.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has been in prison since January 2013, among the longest terms served by a chaebol boss. Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, who had been sentenced to three years in prison with a five-year stay of execution, is now on probation. CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun is waiting or the Supreme Court’s verdict.

“Pardons for business tycoons has nothing to do with an economic recovery,” said Lee Hye-hoon, a former senior lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party.

“The practice of dealing out pardons to convicted chaebol chiefs has continued for decades in the name of economic revitalization and scaled-up investment. We need to check out whether those pardons actually translated into increased investments. I don’t understand why no one has ever attempted to do so,” Lee Hye-hoon said on a TV program.

The head of a chabol whose name starts with “H” was pardoned in August 2008: the head of a chabol beginning with “S” was granted a special pardon in December 2009. “The nation’s economic growth lost 2.7 percentage points from 2007 to 2008. It further fell 2.1 percentage points year-on-year in 2009. We have decades worth of such data but the government doesn’t make their pardon decisions based on the facts. It doesn’t make sense,” Lee criticized.

 


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