 |
(Photo= Yonhap news) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] Samsung Biologics' administrative lawsuit challenging the financial authorities' judgment of deliberate accounting standard omissions will now be reviewed by the appeals court.
On August 28, it was reported that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have filed an appeal with the Seoul Administrative Court's Administrative Division 3 (Chief Judge Choi Su-jin) against the first-instance ruling.
The court had previously ruled on August 14 that Samsung Biologics was within its discretion for accounting practices and that it was difficult to conclusively determine a violation of accounting standards. The court also ruled that since the SFC's corrective action was essentially a single disposition, if some reasons for the disposition were not present, the entire disposition should be canceled.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) had previously judged that Samsung Biologics intentionally engaged in accounting fraud when it shifted from a subsidiary to an associate company in 2015, suddenly reporting a profit of 1.9 trillion KRW just before its listing. The FSS concluded that this valuation adjustment from book value (2.9 trillion KRW) to market value (4.8 trillion KRW) was made without clear evidence.
The SFC, having taken over the case from the FSS, also considered these actions as accounting fraud, recommending the dismissal of the CEO and imposing a penalty of 8 billion KRW. Additionally, the SFC referred the case to the prosecution on charges of accounting violations.
AlphaBIZ Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
