Activist Leader Imprisoned for Taking Bribe from Lone Star

The Lone Star issue continues to make headlines.  This time it is about how Lone Star bribed an activist group leader to essentially shut up.  So if there was any doubt, everyone now knows it is illegal to bribe activist groups in South Korea:

A local court sentenced the head of a private watchdog to two years in prison for taking bribes from Lone Star Funds in return for dropping protests over the U.S. firm’s local deal and trying to help it settle a stock manipulation trial.

The Seoul Central District Court ordered Jang Hwa-sik, the head of Spec Watch Korea, also to forfeit 800 million won (US$681,000), he received in 2011 from Yoo Hoe-won, former head of Lone Star’s local unit.

“Despite fairness and integrity expected for him as an executive of an organization whose nature is clearly of public concern, he used his position in taking the heavy amount of financial reward,” the court said.

Jang, formerly a head of the labor union at Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), had led protests against Lone Star’s profit taking in the firm’s purchase and reselling of KEB.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.