Prosecutors indict SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in

Prosecutors indicted SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in without detention on Friday for breach of trust.

SPC Chairman Hur Young-in apologies for the death of a 23-year-old worker in an accident at an SPL factory at a press conference on Oct. 21. [YONHAP]

Prosecutors indicted SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in without detention on Friday for breach of trust.

Cho Sang-ho, the former representative of SPC Group and Hwang Jae-bok, CEO of Paris Croissant, were indicted as well.

They have been indicted for helping the group's only listed affiliate, SPC Samlip, earn 17.9 billion won ($13.7 million) by selling its unlisted raw material affiliate Mildawon stocks, at a lower cost to avoid gift tax. Paris Croissant suffered a 12.1-billion-won loss from its sale of shares in Mildawon while Shany suffered a loss of 5.8 billion won.

Shany is 69.86 percent owned by Chairman Hur Young-in and his family. They also own all of Paris Croissant, a parent company of SPL.

In 2020, the country's antitrust regulator fined SPC Group 67.4 billion won for the alleged violation.

Meanwhile, SPC Group said it will try to fix the misunderstanding during trials regarding the indictment.

"The transfer of Mildawon stocks was done according to appropriate process and standards through an accounting firm," said a spokesperson for SPC Group.

"We will try our best to clear out the misunderstandings during the trial."

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]