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Photo=Mirae Asset Securities |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Sangjin] Mirae Asset affiliates, which had been issued summary orders for fines due to allegations of unfairly supporting a company operated by the family of the group's chairman, were acquitted in a formal trial.
According to legal sources on Thursday, Judge Hyun Kyung-hoon of the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 15 acquitted Mirae Asset Global Investments and Mirae Asset Life Insurance, which had been indicted for violating the Fair Trade Act.
The two companies were accused of engaging in transactions worth around 24 billion KRW with Mirae Asset Consulting, a company controlled by the family of Park Hyun-joo, chairman of Mirae Asset Group, between January 2015 and December 2016. The company operated a golf course that the affiliates were required to use as a rule, thereby allegedly funneling profits to the chairman's family.
Summary indictment is a procedure in which prosecutors request a fine or penalty through written hearings.
At the time, police pointed out that the two affiliates had accounted for about 72% of the golf course's sales over the two years in which they transacted with the family-run company. In April 2022, the court accepted the prosecution's request and issued a summary order imposing a fine of 30 million KRW on the two companies. However, the affiliates challenged the summary order and filed for a formal trial, which resulted in their acquittal.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
