Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Navigation
Primary Navigation
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular
Secondary Navigation
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Search
Search:
Seoul courts rules 2003 KEB sale to Lone Star legal
Reuters - 1 hour 41 minutes ago
SEOUL, Nov 24 - A Seoul court on Monday rejected claims that the 2003 sale of Korea Exchange Bank to Lone Star was illegal, clearing a former government official and former top executives of the bank of wrongdoing.
The verdict is the first judgement in two years after prosecutors said officials involved in the $1.2 billion sale of KEB <004940.KS> to the U.S. private equity house [LS.UL] had understated the bank's value so that it was sold for about a third less than it was worth.
The legal battle is separate from a previous case settled in June that cleared Dallas-based Lone Star and the head of its South Korean operations of charges of manipulating the stock price of a former credit card unit of KEB to buy it cheaply.
"We cannot judge that the capital ratio estimate for KEB had been manipulated to lower the acquisition price or make Lone Star eligible to buy the bank," Yonhap news agency quoted a judge at the trial as saying.
A judge representing the Seoul Central District Court's criminal trial division confirmed the ruling, but declined to be named because he did not hand down the verdict.
Shares of KEB responded positively to the news, rising as high as 7.6 percent at one point, against a slight fall in the wider market.
The ruling may end a long-running debate on whether KEB was sold at far below-market prices, which had been delaying Lone Star's planned sale of KEB.
South Korean regulators have withheld approval of Lone Star's previous two attempts to sell control of the domestic lender, citing legal uncertainties.
In September, HSBC <HSBA.L> <0005.HK> walked out of a $6.3 billion offer to buy 51 percent of KEB from Lone Star, a year after agreeing to acquire the stake, blaming turmoil in financial markets.
Byeon Yang-ho, a former finance ministry official, was cleared of charges of colluding with Ha Jong-sun, a lawyer hired by Lone Star, and KEB's then-CEO to inflate the bank's losses.
Prosecutors had indicted Byeon, Ha and two former KEB top executives on bribery charges linked to the 2003 KEB sale, saying Ha took more than $1 million from Lone Star to lobby Byeon, who received 41.7 million won worth of bribes from Ha.
Byeon has denied all the allegations.
The court also cleared Lee Kang-won, a former CEO of KEB, of his role in the sale of the bank, but handed him an 18 month jail sentence for taking bribes, the judge representing the court said.
"It is impossible to deny that the accused behaved in an inappropriate manner during the sale process of Korea Exchange Bank, but in the wider framework of the sale it is difficult to say that the accused intended or carried out embezzlement," Yonhap cited the court as saying.
The prosecutors' probe, prompted by politicians in early 2006, irked foreign investors who feared they could be the target of a growing backlash against heavy profits foreign investment funds have reaped by buying distressed Korean assets.
(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee and Park Ju-min; Editing by Keiron Henderson and Jonathan Hopfner)
Email Story
IM Story
Printable View
Blog This
Recommend this article
Average (0 votes)
Sign in to recommend this article »
Most Recommended Stories »
Related Articles: Business
Cambridge Tech not to proceed with warrant allotmentReuters - 14 minutes ago
WRAPUP 1-China weighs next steps for supporting economyReuters - 19 minutes ago
Rivals bet against Morgan Stanley in September- WSJReuters - 20 minutes ago
Turkish lira firms 2.5 pct on global gainsReuters - 21 minutes ago
GOME says checking reports chairman detainedReuters - 22 minutes ago
Most Popular – Business
Viewed
Stricken German public bank KfW expects further losses
Michael Jackson settles court case: spokeswoman
Over 200 narwhal trapped in Canadian ice
Slump in Europe spreads wider
Japan scientists eye made-to-order bones
View Complete List »
Search:
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular