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A Forensic Study Of Daewoo’S Corporate Governance: Does Responsibility For Its Meltdown Lie Solely With The Chaebol And Korea?, Joongi Kim

Joongi Kim

In 1999, the Daewoo Group, one of the biggest transnational conglomerates, collapsed, committing a staggering $15.3 billion in accounting fraud in the process, the largest in world history. In 2006, its chairman was sentenced to eight years in prison and a disgorgement penalty of $22.7 billion. Daewoo’s problems, however, did not remain a case isolated to Korea and their mighty, family-controlled conglomerates called “chaebol.” Daewoo’s demise foreshadowed corporate scandals that more recently ravaged confidence in financial markets around the world. Leading financial institutions, investment banks, securities analysts, accounting firms and credit agencies from around the world failed to address its …