Law and Rights
It is reported by Alisa Priddle at WardsAuto.com that the second richest man in Korea sits in a jail cell right now (deservedly so, some say). He happens to be the Chairman of Hundai Motor Group, Chung Mong-koo, who was arrested April 28 on embezzlement ($105 million) and other charges, but he is still running his automotive empire from his jail cell. His lawyers, in the meantime, are coming up with some very, very creative arguments as they try to get him out on bail.
Chung is known as a man who likes to be in charge. Since that's tough to do in a jail cell, his lawyers have argued for bail, citing that his company can't be managed properly without its chairman on site. He is widely credited with Hyundai and Kia expansions and success of recent times and his auto empire's tentacles stretch thru all parts of the business, from making the steel to financing the sales. That may have influenced the reportedly 1 million signatures on petitions calling for his release from jail.
With plans in the works for new plants in the US and the Czech Republic, his lawyers argued that Chung needs to be personally involved in the decision-making and that without him, the Korean economy will suffer.
Not trusting the argument to be successful (after all, this is the man who founded the Korean watchdog group that was supposed to wipe out corporate abuses and who signed the Korean Pact on Anti-Corruption in 2005 on behalf of the auto industry), Chung showed up at a June 12 bail hearing in a wheelchair with claims of frail health.
Yeah, right, frail health. It just goes to show that even billionaires can get in frail health from breathing too much jail air.
Anyway, the lawyers now argue that Chung can only be partly responsible for the embezzlement and other charges because he had no "direct" knowledge of what was going on with the illegal funds. Problem is, on the question of bail, Korean courts look to see if the accused has admitted his wrongs and is remorseful. That seems to run counter to Chung's approach of (paraphrasing here) "I didn't do it but if I did I didn't know what was really going on."
So what to do? No problem, just fess up.
Now, Chung apparently has decided to admit responsibility and that he was told they needed a "slush fund" and he authorized it. The argument's "logic" (if you can call it that) seems to lead to an emphatic "Oh yeah, by the way, can I get out of jail now?"
The next bail hearing is June 26 for Chung. Only time will tell if the court decides that Chung is only saying what he knows he has to say or if he really means it. 'course, if they think he really means it, I've got some beachfront property in Kansas I'd like to sell them...
One can't help but wonder if Chung had been minding his business right, instead of stashing away millions of dollars for bribe money, maybe Hyundai wouldn't have had to recall nearly a quarter of a million cars because the air bags' computer systems weren't built right!
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Law and Rights
Car Crooks Have Creative Lawyers
It is reported by Alisa Priddle at WardsAuto.com that the second richest man in Korea sits in a jail cell right now (deservedly so, some say). He happens to be the Chairman of Hundai Motor Group, Chung Mong-koo, who was arrested April 28 on embezzlement ($105 million) and other charges, but he is still running his automotive empire from his jail cell. His lawyers, in the meantime, are coming up with some very, very creative arguments as they try to get him out on bail.
Chung is known as a man who likes to be in charge. Since that's tough to do in a jail cell, his lawyers have argued for bail, citing that his company can't be managed properly without its chairman on site. He is widely credited with Hyundai and Kia expansions and success of recent times and his auto empire's tentacles stretch thru all parts of the business, from making the steel to financing the sales. That may have influenced the reportedly 1 million signatures on petitions calling for his release from jail.
With plans in the works for new plants in the US and the Czech Republic, his lawyers argued that Chung needs to be personally involved in the decision-making and that without him, the Korean economy will suffer.
Not trusting the argument to be successful (after all, this is the man who founded the Korean watchdog group that was supposed to wipe out corporate abuses and who signed the Korean Pact on Anti-Corruption in 2005 on behalf of the auto industry), Chung showed up at a June 12 bail hearing in a wheelchair with claims of frail health.
Yeah, right, frail health. It just goes to show that even billionaires can get in frail health from breathing too much jail air.
Anyway, the lawyers now argue that Chung can only be partly responsible for the embezzlement and other charges because he had no "direct" knowledge of what was going on with the illegal funds. Problem is, on the question of bail, Korean courts look to see if the accused has admitted his wrongs and is remorseful. That seems to run counter to Chung's approach of (paraphrasing here) "I didn't do it but if I did I didn't know what was really going on."
So what to do? No problem, just fess up.
Now, Chung apparently has decided to admit responsibility and that he was told they needed a "slush fund" and he authorized it. The argument's "logic" (if you can call it that) seems to lead to an emphatic "Oh yeah, by the way, can I get out of jail now?"
The next bail hearing is June 26 for Chung. Only time will tell if the court decides that Chung is only saying what he knows he has to say or if he really means it. 'course, if they think he really means it, I've got some beachfront property in Kansas I'd like to sell them...
One can't help but wonder if Chung had been minding his business right, instead of stashing away millions of dollars for bribe money, maybe Hyundai wouldn't have had to recall nearly a quarter of a million cars because the air bags' computer systems weren't built right!
Subscribe in a reader- Things Are Cozy In Korea For Kia And Hyundai
Money Talks at Hyundai & KiaA few days ago we wrote about how the Hyundai-Kia conglomerate had just spent over $10 Billion to buy the land for the new corporate headquarters they intend to build (for another $6 Billion) in Korea. And we asked you...
- Hundai Getting Too Big For Its Britches?
There just isn't anything quite like a "maybe recall" where the manufacturer will fix some cars, but not the ones that it has already sold, but that's what Hyundai is trying to get away with now. They win. You get stuck. Sound familiar? Hyundai...
- Should Wall Street Bankers Go To Jail?
My bet is that if you ask any ordinary guy on the street, you'd get a loud "sure" out of that question. Apparently I'm not the only one to think so, either. BNET agrees. Apparently other professionals do too. A UC criminologist agrees that the...
- Washing Machines That Catch Fire ?
You wouldn't think that washing machines, full of water, could catch on fire...well Maytag has a found a way to make it happen! More precisely, Samsung did, and sold it to Maytag. March 2007: Maytag announced the voluntary recall of 250,000 front-loading...
- Search Warrants And Animal Cruelty
A California Appellate Court recently joined several other jurisdictions throughout the United States by ruling that the "exigent circumstances" doctrine, which creates an exception to the Fourth Amendment requirement that a search warrant must be obtained...