이 기사는 2021년 12월 02일 08:05 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

As expected by many legal experts, Kyobo Life Insurance’s chairman Shin Chang-jae has opted not to take the stand in the case against the company’s financial investors and their accounting firm.

The Seoul Central District Court said that Shin’s application for non-attendance was filed on Tuesday.

Last month the Kyobo Life chairman was called to attend the seventh hearing scheduled for Wednesday. But with the absence of the key witness, only the examination of documentary evidence was conducted at the latest hearing.

Whether Shin would testify had been one of the biggest questions of the trial. At the sixth hearing held on November 12, attorneys for the South Korean insurer’s financial investors and Deloitte Anjin’s accountants – who were indicted by prosecutors earlier this year for allegedly conspiring to misprice the company’s shares – sought to call Shin as a witness, arguing that he needs to testify as a direct counterparty in the shareholder agreement with the investors.

“Previous witnesses have no knowledge of the history and content of the shareholder agreement or terms related to an initial public offering and put options,” the attorneys said at the sixth hearing, requesting Shin’s attendance in court to better judge the adequacy and independence of the share valuation conducted by Deloitte Anjin.

The court accepted the attorneys’ argument on conditions that Shin’s attendance is not mandatory and the attorneys’ cross-examination is limited to two hours in order to prevent further expansion of the case’s issues.

The legal battle has been ongoing for several months. Last year, Shin and Kyobo Life reported the investors and Deloitte Anjin to prosecutors, arguing that they colluded to wrongfully inflate a price estimate for the company’s shares subject to the put options.

The latest twist came on November 16 when Kyobo Life’s board of directors, chaired by Shin, abruptly decided to restart a process to take the company public next year, a move widely seen as Shin seeking to deescalate the dispute with the investors.

Meanwhile, the investors – consisting of Affinity Equity Partners, IMM Private Equity, Baring Private Equity Asia and Singapore’s GIC – are blaming Shin for failing to fulfill the shareholder agreement.

They also filed an injunction with the Seoul Northern District Court separately to force Shin to start a process to estimate the value of shares subject to the put options, with the court’s decision expected as soon as early December.

The ruling on the case against the investor group and accountants from Deloitte Anjin is expected to come before the end of this year. (Reporting by Ha-na Suh)