Former bhc Chairman Park Hyeon-jong's side denied the indictment in full at the first trial over alleged embezzlement totaling about 6 billion won.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 30 (Presiding Judge Park Ok-hee, Director General) on the 25th held the first hearing for Park, who was indicted on charges including violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust).
According to the prosecution's indictment, Park is accused of breach of trust for closing two high-revenue BHC company-operated stores between 2022 and 2023 and converting them into franchises run by family members, causing the company a loss of about 3.9 billion won.
In addition, he is accused of the following: ▲ paying 1.4 billion won to four specific employees as special bonuses without a board resolution ▲ purchasing a yacht worth about 190 million won under a company operated by Park and making it appear to have been used at a bhc-hosted event to book the event expenditure ▲ purchasing a jet ski worth about 40 million won with company funds ▲ spending 700 million won in company funds for the interior expense of a bhc-owned resort that an investigation found he used exclusively.
At the hearing, Park's attorney said, "We assert not guilty on all counts of the indictment," and added, "The charges were maliciously pieced together after a dusting-off style investigation."
Regarding the breach of trust charge tied to the store closures, the attorney said, "Contrary to investigators' suspicions, the decision was made as part of restructuring," and argued, "Other expense reduction effects were significant, so the closures were a business judgment. Because it was a decision that benefits the company in a macro sense, it cannot constitute breach of trust."
On the special bonus payments, the attorney said, "It is the defendant's right to reward executives and employees who contributed to achieving 1 trillion won in sales," adding, "It should be respected as a business judgment."
Addressing the suspicion over the resort interior expense, the attorney said, "Investigators believe the Pyeongchang villa was used exclusively by the defendant, but the villa was also used for entertaining by company board members, representatives of major shareholders, and outside attorneys."
The court will hold a second hearing on the 25th of next month to conduct an evidence examination.
Meanwhile, in Feb. last year, the Supreme Court finalized a sentence of six months in prison, suspended for two years, for Park on charges of illegally accessing BBQ's internal network (violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection).