Korean Air owner denies pocketing Airbus tax rebate

On March 8, Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) parent Hanjin KAL denied a claim made by an alliance of minority shareholders – who are trying to replace the group’s current leadership – that its top management pocketed a tax rebate from Airbus, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported. The group argued that a year-long probe by 11 investigative agencies in 2018 failed to find any violations in connection to its aircraft purchases. Moreover, the tax rebate allegedly took place between 1996 and 2000 and so could not have involved the current chairman, Cho Won-tae, who joined the group in 2003. As previously reported, Cho, who took over the Hanjin KAL conglomerate last April after his father’s death, has been challenged by his older sister Cho Hyun-ah, who has been gathering shareholder support to appoint a professional rather than hereditary chief executive.