Three named, including co-CEOs Hwang Sung-taek and Lee Sung-won
Firm says Truston spread false claims, repeatedly raised baseless allegations
Shareholder rights abuse harming company and ordinary shareholders, Taekwang says
Taekwang Industrial said Monday it had filed a criminal complaint with police against three individuals — including Truston Asset Management co-CEOs Hwang Sung-taek and Lee Sung-won — on charges of defamation and obstruction of business.
The complaint alleges that the named individuals used shareholder letters containing false information to damage the reputation of Taekwang Industrial and its directors and to interfere with normal business operations.
According to the complaint, the individuals sent an open letter to Taekwang Industrial's board and its directors on Sept. 3, describing the Taekwang Group management council as a "ghost-like body" that controls the group's management and characterizing the board as a hollowed-out organization that merely rubber-stamps the council's decisions.
Taekwang Industrial rejected those characterizations as plainly false. The company said the inter-affiliate consultative body was renamed the Management Support Council in August last year and that the management council referenced in the letter no longer exists.
The company also said the Management Support Council is simply a consultative body formed to promote cooperation and synergy among affiliates, not an organization that makes management decisions on their behalf.
"During the period when former management council chairman Kim Ki-yu oversaw Taekwang Group's operations, the council did in effect serve as the group's control tower," a Taekwang Industrial official said. "Truston is misleading people by presenting the former chairman's conduct as if it reflects the current state of affairs."
Taekwang Industrial also said Truston had treated the council's alleged interference and the board's alleged negligence as established facts, then used threats of accounting-book inspections, shareholder derivative suits, requests to convene extraordinary general meetings, and obstruction-of-business complaints to pressure directors. The company said that conduct amounted to forcible interference with free and independent corporate activity and board operations.
"Truston has repeatedly obstructed Taekwang Industrial's normal management decisions and investment activities through baseless claims and allegations," a company official said. "This clearly exceeds the bounds of legitimate shareholder rights." The official added that the company had decided to take legal action because Truston's abuse of shareholder rights was ultimately causing significant harm to the company and its ordinary shareholders.
Taekwang Industrial urged investigators to conduct a thorough investigation.
keg@heraldcorp.com
