Customs authorities have confirmed that Hanjin Group's family has been secretly importing large amounts of foreign luxury goods into Korea for a long time by mobilizing Korean Air and its employees.
The Incheon Main Customs said on Dec. 27 that it indicted Lee Myung-hee (69), the chairman of Ilwoo Foundation, Cho Hyun-ah (44), former vice president of Korean Air, and Cho Hyun-min (35), former executive director of Korean Air, on charges of illegally importing luxury goods and household goods purchased from overseas.
The three mother and daughters are suspected of illegally importing 1,061 foreign luxury goods worth 150 million won from April 2009 to May this year, disguising as if they were goods of Korean Air.
In addition, they are suspected of falsely reporting 132 items worth 570 million won, including furniture and clothing, in the name of Korean Air over 30 times from January 2013 to March last year.
"They ordered employees to purchase household goods and others from overseas and the employees smuggled them into the country as if the goods belonged to the company," said the Incheon headquarters customs officer.
The Incheon customs office also added that despite the discovery of circumstantial evidence, the family did not cooperate with the investigation at all, refusing to comply with the request to submit the data.
The customs authorities also booked and sent two Korean Air employees who were in charge of smuggling instructions, business contacts, checking the shipping status, and transporting them to Korea to the prosecution on charges of violating the customs law.
