Lawyers for a Democratic Society, known as Minbyun, and victims of South Korea's humidifier disinfectant disaster called for police to summon and investigate Gaurav Jain, the former head of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea, who has been the subject of an Interpol red notice for 11 years.
Minbyun's Environment and Health Committee, the Environmental Health Citizens' Center and the National Network of Humidifier Disinfectant Disaster Victims held a news conference on the 25th in front of the National Office of Investigation at the Korean National Police Agency in Seodaemun District, Seoul. "Police must summon, investigate and punish Gaurav Jain, the foreign chief executive of Oxy who was the main culprit in the humidifier disinfectant disaster," the groups said.
Jain served as chief executive of Oxy from 2010 to 2012. According to Minbyun's environment committee and the other groups, prosecutors requested an Interpol red notice for Jain in 2016. They then sought his extradition from the Indian government in 2018, but the request was refused. He has yet to be summoned in South Korea.
The groups allege that Jain, while working as a marketing executive around 2005, approved advertising copy describing Oxy's humidifier disinfectant as "safe even for children," and that he directed the manipulation of product toxicity tests during his tenure as chief executive. They said Jain did not comply with requests to appear before prosecutors or to testify at a parliamentary inquiry.
"Now police must step forward and properly establish the truth behind the humidifier disinfectant disaster, which is unprecedented not only in South Korea but in the world," the groups said. "We expect active judgment and action from the police."
