
The defendant's report claims, "The 4 billion won donation is a fulfillment of the social contribution promise made with the city."
Former Naver executives Kim Sang-heon and Kim Jin-hee, who were indicted for the 'Seongnam FC donation suspicion', completely denied the charges in the court hearing, saying that the 4 billion won donation was only a fulfillment of a social contribution promise with Seongnam City in the past and had nothing to do with the approval of the second office building.
AI-generated summary
A trial is underway related to allegations that Naver provided donations to Seongnam FC and received conveniences such as permission for a second headquarters building in return.
(Seongnam = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Woo-seong = A former top executive of Naver, who was indicted over the 'Seongnam FC donation suspicion', completely denied the charges in a court hearing, saying that the 4 billion won donation was only a fulfillment of a social contribution promise with Seongnam City that had been delayed for more than 10 years and had nothing to do with the approval of the second office building.
At a follow-up trial held on the 12th at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Kim Gyeong-hoon), former Naver I&S CEO Kim Jin-hee said, "When we moved our headquarters in 2004, we were unable to fulfill our promise to contribute to the region for over 10 years, so there was a lot of criticism from the city council and others," and stated that the sponsorship of Seongnam FC was only a fulfillment of the promise at the time and there was no compensation.
Former CEO Kim refuted the allegations of preferential treatment claimed by the prosecution, saying, "Seongnam City's administrative support was already specified in the 2013 second office site sales contract, and the opening of a car entrance and exit road in front of the office building was a normal design change in response to safety complaints on the school route to a nearby elementary school."
Former Naver CEO Kim Sang-heon, who was subsequently interrogated by the defendant, also dismissed the quid pro quo, saying, "In the internal data reported to the working staff in March 2015, there was a phrase that seemed to link the sponsorship of Seongnam FC with the construction permit for the second office building. Since the sponsorship was provided without any compensation or conditions, I ordered the deletion of that phrase and it was corrected in the data created later."
He emphasized, "At the time, Naver's annual operating profit reached 1 trillion won and its social contribution budget reached 150 billion won. It was only a fulfillment of an agreement made with Seongnam City in the past, and there was no reason to support it with the expectation of receiving compensation in a situation where it had donated over 10 billion won to other organizations."
On the other hand, the prosecution accused the defendants of giving bribes and concealing criminal proceeds, saying that Naver gave 4 billion won to Seongnam FC through Hope Salim, an incorporated association, in return for providing convenience such as construction permit for the second office building, increase in floor area ratio (from 870% to 940%), and opening of entrance and exit roads.
The court will continue to interrogate the former Doosan Engineering & Construction executives as defendants on the 19th.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Conducted interrogation of defendants with former Doosan Engineering & Construction executives
Very likely · Within days

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