The prosecution has virtually concluded its investigation into alleged professional negligence as it additionally indicted a former SK Chemicals employee who made PHMG, a toxic substance used in Oxy's humidifier disinfectant.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on June 21 indicted a former SK Chemicals team leader and two working-level employees on charges of professional negligence.
They are accused of not properly verifying PHMG, knowing that it is harmful to the human body when inhaled, and letting it be made into a humidifier disinfectant.
The prosecution, which began re-investigating the humidifier disinfectant earlier this year, conducted the investigation by charging SK Chemicals, a supplier of raw materials for Oxy products, with professional negligence, unlike the first one in 2016.
SK Chemicals avoided criminal punishment owing to its claim that it did not know it might have been used as a humidifier disinfectant in the first round. But the reinvestigation recognized it would be used as a humidifier disinfectant based on circumstantial evidence.
Prosecutors also indicted a former employee of SK Chemicals, identified only by his surname Choi, who recommended PHMG to Oxy in the middle of this month on charges of professional negligence.
On the same day, victims of the humidifier disinfectant filed a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office against Kim Sang-jo, the new chief presidential secretary for policy, for dereliction of duty and other charges.
They said that while Kim headed the Fair Trade Commission, he covered up the illegality of the handling of SK Chemicals and Aekyung's violation of the display advertisement law and took unfair measures to dismiss Yoo who took issue with it.
