SEOUL– A Seoul court has recently ordered two former executives of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) to compensate the company in connection with their involvement in massive accounting fraud, court records showed Monday.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled former CEO Ko Jae-ho and former Chief Financial Officer Kim Gap-joong must pay 85 billion won (US$70.82 million) jointly in damages to the shipbuilder. Kim was ordered to pay an additional 20.2 billion won.
Ko was sentenced in 2017 to nine years in prison for his involvement in the accounting manipulation of the loss-making company in 2013 and 2014. Kim also received six years in prison in the same year for cooking the books from 2012-2014.
DSME later filed a damages suit against the former executives and the accounting company Deloitte Anjin LLC, which failed to uncover the fraudulent acts.
The court estimated the former executives caused a total of 262.8 billion won in damage to the company in the forms of excessive bonuses, dividends and fines.
The court ruled Deloitte Anjin cannot be held accountable because it could not work properly due to DSME executives’ interference.
Source: Yonhap News Agency