Taekwang Industrial(003240) said on the 14th that it filed a police complaint accusing three people, including Truston Asset Management (hereafter Truston) CEOs Hwang Seong-taek and Lee Seong-won, of defamation and obstruction of business. It said they damaged the reputations of Taekwang Industrial and its directors and interfered with normal management activities through a shareholder letter containing false information.
According to the complaint, the accused, through an open letter sent to the Taekwang Industrial board of directors and its directors on the 3rd, referred to the Taekwang Group Management Council as a "ghost-like body" that dictates group management and disparaged the Taekwang Industrial board as a hollowed-out organization that merely ratifies the council's decisions.
Taekwang Industrial said, "The council for consultation among affiliates changed its name to the Management Support Council in Aug. last year, and the Management Council does not even exist now," adding, "Truston's claim is clearly false."
Taekwang Industrial also explained that the Management Support Council is merely a consultative body formed to increase synergies among affiliates and is not an organization that substitutes for decision-making on affiliate management.
It added that Truston is distorting as if it were current practice the abuses that occurred when former Management Council Chair Kim Gi-yu oversaw Taekwang Group's management.
Taekwang Industrial also said, "Truston treated as a fait accompli the Management Council's interference and the board's neglect, and pressured directors by mentioning inspection and copying of accounting books, shareholder derivative suits, requests to convene an extraordinary shareholders meeting, and accusations of obstruction of business," adding, "This constitutes using force to obstruct free and independent corporate activities and the board's work."
A Taekwang Industrial official said, "Truston is repeatedly interfering with Taekwang Industrial's normal management judgments and investment activities with baseless claims and the raising of suspicions," adding, "This is a clear abuse of shareholder rights that goes beyond the bounds of sound shareholder rights, causing enormous damage to the company and many general shareholders."