Police have raided Hanjin KAL, the holding company of Hanjin Group, which counts Korean Air among its affiliates.
The financial crime investigation unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Metropolitan Investigation Bureau recently searched Hanjin KAL and other locations on suspicion of breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, police said on the 7th.
A civic group, the Citizens' Committee for Livelihood Measures, filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in May last year against Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae and Hanjin KAL Chief Executive Ryu Kyung-pyo, accusing them of embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and of violating the Capital Markets Act. The group alleged that Hanjin KAL's contribution of 440,044 treasury shares to an in-house employee welfare fund, made while the company was in a management control dispute with Hoban Construction, breached management's fiduciary duty to shareholders.
The police investigation could emerge as a new variable in the control dispute, as competition to secure Hanjin KAL shares has again intensified between Cho and Hoban Group, the company's second-largest shareholder.
