The founder of South Korea's now-defunct Daewoo group was charged on Wednesday with hiding assets, six months after being pardoned over his role in one of the world's largest corporate failures.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said Kim Woo-Choong would stand trial for hiding assets worth 115-billion won ($114-million) to avoid their forfeiture under a court order. He has not been detained.

Senior prosecutor Chae Jae-Kyong told reporters that Kim was accused of using borrowed names to conceal shares in local firms.

Daewoo had debts of $82-billion when it went under in 1999 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. The government was forced to spend some 30-trillion won to rescue its subsidiaries.

Kim fled the country but returned after six years.

In November 2006 he was given an eight-and-a-half year jail sentence for embezzlement and accounting fraud. He was also ordered to forfeit 17.9-trillion won (now $17.8-billion) and pay 10-million won in fines.

Kim was found guilty of masterminding an accounting fraud involving 20-trillion won and obtaining 9.8-trillion won in illegal loans from banks, as well as smuggling funds overseas.

In December 2006 the jail sentence was suspended on grounds of ill health and Kim (71) was pardoned last December in a presidential amnesty.

Before the financial crisis exposed its weaknesses, Daewoo was exporting goods worth $17.6-billion a year — 13.3 percent of South Korea's total exports — and employed 250 000 people worldwide.

Chae said prosecutors were still investigating whether the former tycoon had used his assets for illegal lobbying.

Jo Pung-Eon, a US-based lobbyist, was arrested last month for using $24.3-million in company funds embezzled by Kim to acquire a major stake in one of the group's former subsidiaries.

Prosecutors said the lobbyist had been questioned over allegations that he tried to bribe government officials back in the 1990s in an attempt to rescue the group from bankruptcy.

AFP

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