SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Former chief of a South Korean defense company was indicted Wednesday on multiple charges, including corruption and accounting fraud, according to local media reports.
Ha Seong-yong, former chief executive of the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), South Korea's sole aircraft producer, was prosecuted for charges of bloating revenue and net profit by cooking the books from 2013 to the first quarter of this year.
Nine other former and incumbent KAI executives were indicted on accounting fraud, embezzlement and backdoor employment.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, in charge of the investigation into the corruption scandal, announced an interim probe result, saying Ha also took out hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in loans and issued corporate bonds based on the fabricated balance sheet.
With the bloated earnings, key executives of the KAI were given bonuses worth tens of millions of dollars.
The former KAI head was also accused of embezzling corporate funds by falsely booking the foreign exchange rate when selling foreign currencies, while creating slush funds by buying gift vouchers and exchanging them for cash.
In addition, he was charged with illegally hiring unqualified candidates as they had ties with influential figures such as lawmakers, former military generals and ranking government officials.
Ha was arrested late last month as part of the probe into the corruption scandal involving the defense firm.
