hankyoreh

the former chief attorney at Samsung who blew the whistle on the conglomerate in November

Samsung Group and the JoongAng Ilbo are reportedly about to file civil and criminal suits against former Samsung lawyer Kim Yong-cheol. The action comes after independent counsel Cho Joon-woong announced the results of his investigation into allegations against the nation’s largest conglomerate. In the process, allegations which were not fully examined by the independent counsel may be given a new look.

This will not be the first time Kim will have been sued for libel since he blew the whistle on irregularities at Samsung in November. Kim was sued for libel by Che Jin-hoon, the CEO of Cheil Industries, Samsung’s textile arm, and Lee Woo-hee, the former president of Samsung affiliate S1, after he claimed in November that they bribed high-ranking prosecutors. The prosecution has postponed further examination of the incident due to the independent counsel’s investigation into Samsung Group and is expected to handle the case when additional lawsuits against Kim have been filed.

Though Samsung appears to think that the independent counsel’s announcement of the investigation results has resolved a considerable portion of the allegations against it, it has been reported that Samsung plans to take further actions against Kim.

However, on April 20, Kim Yeong-hee, one of Kim’s attorneys said, “As Kim Yong-cheol is an informant who has presented the truth on behalf of the public interest, he can’t be punished for libel.”

When Shinsegae Group filed a libel suit against the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a civic group, for claiming that Chairwoman Lee Myung-hee had illegally transferred her wealth to her son, the prosecution dropped the charges against the group, saying that PSPD had not committed libel and that the allegations had not been launched to defame Shinsegae.

Kim’s legal team has indicated that they will raise the issue again if Samsung initiates counteractions. Kim seems to believe that the independent counsel and his team did not fully investigate the allegations against the conglomerate, including its alleged creation of slush funds and lobbying activities, and is looking to ensure that the investigation continues with the oversight of the prosecution.

To accomplish this, Kim and his supporters hope that going through the courts will lead to another, more thorough investigation of the allegations. This a strategy similar to the one used by lawmaker Roh Hoi-chan, who is standing trial for libel after having disclosed the names of the prosecutors who took bribes from Samsung. As a lawmaker, Roh had access to a classified X-file containing the names of the prosecutors and chose to make this information public. Though his status as a National Assembly lawmaker gives him immunity from prosecution, he gave this up to stand trial, knowing that it would lead to an investigation of the prosecutors involved.

Kim and others who allege that the independent counsel and his team did not go far enough also hope to uncover the holes in the investigation by going over the documents from the case. “As the independent counsel and his team didn’t fulfill its role, they want to sort out right from wrong by going through the courts,” said Paik Seung-heon, the director of the civic group Lawyers for Democratic Society, which has also pressed the prosecution for a more thorough investigation.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]