SEOUL, South Korea — The head of the company whose ferry sank in April, killing more than 300 people in one of South Korea’s worst disasters in decades, was convicted on Thursday of accidental homicide and embezzlement and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Kim Han-sik, 71, the chief executive of the Chonghaejin Marine Company, was among 11 officials from the ferry operator; a cargo company, Union Transport; and the port inspector, the Korea Shipping Association, who were on trial in Gwangju District Court for their roles in the disaster.
All but one were convicted of accidental homicide and other criminal charges, according to a statement from the court in Gwangju, a city in southwestern South Korea. Seven were sentenced to two to six years in prison. Two others were given suspended prison terms. Another official, a senior ship inspector, was acquitted of obstruction of justice, the only charge he had faced.
The ferry, Sewol, tilted sharply while making a turn in a shipping lane off the southwestern coast of South Korea on April 16. It failed to right itself and sank, killing 304 people, most of them high school students on a field trip.
Investigators later concluded that the ferry had become dangerously top-heavy and unbalanced after Chonghaejin Marine added more cabins on its upper decks to accommodate extra passengers. The ferry operator also colluded with the cargo company and the port inspector to regularly overload the ship, the investigators said.
On its last voyage, the Sewol was carrying twice as much cargo as legally allowed, according to court documents. The ship’s crew had reduced the amount of ballast water it carried at its bottom for stability so that it could accommodate the excess cargo, investigators said.
“The defendants had known that the ship was unstable and that if it sank, it was highly likely that passengers would die or get injured,” said the court statement explaining the verdicts.
Two weeks ago, another South Korean court sentenced Yoo Dae-kyoon, the eldest son of Yoo Byung-eun, a business mogul who controlled a fleet of companies, including Chonghaejin Marine, to three years in prison for embezzlement. The authorities accused members of the Yoo family of stealing the equivalent of millions of dollars from the ferry company, money they said could have been used for safety measures that were not put in place on the Sewol.
The senior Mr. Yoo was found dead in July while on the run from criminal charges.
In its ruling on Thursday, the Gwangju court said that Mr. Kim, the chief executive of Chonghaejin Marine, had helped the Yoo family embezzle company funds. He also failed to act after junior officials told him about the ship’s instability, and even encouraged them to overload the ship with poorly lashed cargo to generate profits, the court said.
Mr. Kim told the court that he had suggested that the company sell the dangerous ship but was ignored by the senior Mr. Yoo.
On Nov. 11, the Gwangju court sentenced the captain of the ferry, Lee Jun-seok, to 36 years in prison for deserting his ship and its passengers in a fatal crisis. But he was acquitted of murder, infuriating family members of some of the victims. Investigators and survivors have said passengers were repeatedly told by the crew to stay inside the sinking ship. Fourteen other crew members were sentenced to five to 30 years in prison.
All the crew members have appealed their verdicts.
source http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/world/asia/chief-of-ferry-company-in-south-korea-given-10-year-jail-sentence.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0
