Top court orders review of ruling on Hanwha chief

The nation's top court on Thursday reversed a lower court's ruling on Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn for embezzlement and sent the case back for a retrial. The Supreme Court said the Seoul High Court should reconsider its verdict of a three-year prison term and a fine of 5.1 billion won (US$4.51 million) delivered to the 61-year-old tycoon. It said the appellate court did not properly judge some of the charges against him. Kim was indicted on charges of using company money to pay back debts of firms he was running under borrowed names, causing hundreds of billions of won in losses to the country's 10th largest family-controlled conglomerate. A Seoul district court previously handed down a four-year sentence to Kim. However, the Seoul High Court in April commuted the sentence to three years on account of his efforts to recover losses he caused to the conglomerate with his private money. Kim, who was sent to prison immediately after the verdict was read in the district court, was released from prison in January after the court accepted his request to temporarily suspend his sentence. The court again extended the suspension of imprisonment until Nov. 7. So far, the chairman has been staying at a Seoul hospital to receive treatment for breathing problems and manic-depressive illness. The business mogul was indicted in January 2011 on multiple charges. According to the prosecution, he spent hundreds of billions of won in company funds to repay the debts of the firms he secretly ran between 2004 and 2006. He evaded paying transfer income tax through bank accounts he owned, also under other people's names, prosecutors said. He also allegedly inflicted massive financial losses on group subsidiaries for the benefit of his family members.