South Korea's four major business lobby groups have asked President Lee Myung-bak to grant special amnesty to the former chairman of Daewoo Group and other prominent convicted
businesspeople, sources said Friday.
A total of 78 convicted businesspeople were included in a list drawn up by the groups who are calling for the pardon ahead of Liberation Day, which commemorates the end of Japanese colonial rule over Korea on Aug. 15, 1945, according to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), one of the four groups.
Most of the convicted businessmen on the list are already on bail after receiving suspended jail terms on convictions including bribery and
accounting frauds.
Kim Woo-choong, the former chairman of the dismantled Daewoo Group, was convicted of embezzlement, accounting fraud and other charges related to the collapse of Daewoo in 1999. In 2008, a local court sentenced him to a year
and a half in prison, suspended for two years, on charges of stashing assets valued at 115 billion won.
The list also includes Lee Hak-soo, former vice chairman of Samsung Group. Lee was sentenced to 30 months in prison, suspended for five years,
on charges of causing damages to a Samsung Group affiliate in an illegal managerial transfer.
Lee Kun-hee, former chairman of Samsung Group, was granted a special pardon by President Lee last year. In 2008, Lee was forced to resign as head
of Samsung Group after being convicted of tax evasion. He was given a three-year jail sentence, suspended for five years.