The arrest warrant for Im, the CEO of Daesang, who is suspected of colluding to fix prices of starch and sugars (starch sugar) worth about 10 trillion won, was dismissed. This is the second time an arrest warrant for Im has been dismissed.
On the 14th, Lee, the Director General judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, held a pre-arrest interrogation of the suspect (substantive warrant review) for Im and dismissed the arrest warrant.
Director General Judge Lee explained the reason for dismissal, saying, "Even after considering the additional materials collected and submitted following the previous decision to dismiss the arrest warrant request, it is difficult to conclude that there is sufficient substantiation of the criminal allegations to the extent that the suspect should be detained."
Lee also said, "As the suspect is disputing the allegations, there is a need to guarantee the right to defense, and at this stage it is difficult to recognize the necessity and reasonableness of detaining the suspect."
Prosecutors have investigated after detecting indications that four oligopolistic starch sugar companies—Daesang, Sajo CPK, Samyang Corporation, and CJ CheilJedang—colluded to fix prices totaling about 10 trillion won over the past eight years.
On the 26th of last month, prosecutors sought arrest warrants for Im, the CEO; Kim, a director and head of Daesang's starch sugar business division; and Lee, the CEO of Sajo CPK.
On the 31st of last month, after holding a substantive warrant review for them, the court issued only the warrant for Deputy Minister Kim and dismissed the warrants for CEO Im and CEO Lee.
At that time, the court dismissed the warrant for Im, saying "substantiation of involvement in collusive conduct is insufficient," and did not recognize concerns of evidence destruction or flight risk for Lee either.