Ex-Daewoo Shipbuilding chief faces 10 years in jail for faking company accounts

A Korean court has found former Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering chief executive Ko Jae-ho guilty of falsifying company records in 2013 and 2014 to grossly inflate assets, and of acquiring loans with faked company statements. He faces 10 years in prison.

Mr Ko was indicted in July on charges of over-reporting approximately $5bn in net assets from 2012 to 2014 by under-reporting production costs and neglecting to report company losses.

This allowed the firm to unlawfully gain a higher credit rating, with prosecutors alleging that Mr Ko secured more than $16.7bn in loans between 2013 and 2015 as a result.

The court also sentenced a former company vice president to seven years’ jail for his involvement in the case, but cleared Mr Ko of accounting fraud in 2012, citing no evidence.