Senior executives of Samsung India met officials of the commerce and industry ministry on Friday to explain their position with regard to a recent Supreme Court order directing the South Korean major’s global chairman Lee Kun-hee to appear before a Ghaziabad court in a cheating case.
Though no solution has emerged so far as to how Lee can be spared from appearing in person, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma apprehended the move could hurt investor sentiment. He said that the extreme step of summoning Samsung’s global chairman could have been avoided since these companies function in an executive hierarchical manner.
?Samsung is one of the largest companies of Korea and it has huge presence and investments in India…it sends a very negative message and will definitely adversely impact the investment and business climate. But the courts have to take a view. I feel that such extreme steps will send shock waves among the corporate world. That should be avoided. The authorities concerned need to be very careful and exercise caution,? he said.
Earlier in the day, BD Park, managing director, Samsung India and and CEO of the company’s south-west Asia operations, accompanied by Samsung India’s deputy managing director Ravinder Zutshi, met DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant and commerce secretary Rajiv Kher.
?In both the meetings, we explained the entire issue and informed the government regarding the view of Samsung India in the case. We are waiting for a response from the government,? Zutshi told FE. It is believed that since the matter is sub judice the government thinks it would not be appropriate for it to intervene at the moment.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ordered Lee to surrender before a trial court in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh in connection with the case.
A bench led by Justice CK Prasad refused to quash the criminal proceedings against him in a $1.4 million cheating case and asked him to present himself before the trial court to seek bail or excuse from appearance in person. The non-bailable arrest warrant issued by the court has, however, been suspended for six weeks.
The Ghaziabad trial court had first issued a non-bailable warrant against Lee in 2012 after which Samsung’s boss had approached the Allahabad High Court for relief.
The high court declined to quash the case and termed him as an absconder and a fugitive. The company then moved the Supreme Court against this order. The apex court had in June 2013 stayed the order of his arrest, but eventually found no merit in his case to interfere with the trial court proceedings at this stage.
Meanwhile, Samsung India said in a statement on Friday: ?This case is related to a multi-million dollar fraud scheme perpetrated against a Samsung subsidiary in Dubai, Samsung Gulf Electronics. The perpetrators of the fraud were convicted years ago in Dubai to two years in prison, but having illegally fled justice, are now wanted by the government of the UAE. Samsung Gulf Electronics is a victim of this fraud scheme. Despite this, a private criminal complaint was filed by a party in India claiming to have received a bill-of-exchange used in this fraud. Chairman Lee has no relation to this case whatsoever. There are no grounds, let alone evidence, to support the accusation against chairman Lee. Chairman Lee is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the many overseas subsidiaries of Samsung. We are confident that the Indian courts will recognise the innocence of chairman Lee and deliver justice?.
