The parliamentary hearing Tuesday to question nine business moguls involved in a political scandal failed to reveal new facts, leaving only scars on the companies’ reputations, industry watchers said.

The rare televised hearing failed to hit the spot as lawmakers repeated outdated and often irrelevant questions and chiefs feigned ignorance.

“There were no new facts discovered from the hearing. The same questions that have been addressed during the prosecution’s investigation achieved little except damaging the companies’ reputations,” Cho Dong-geun, a professor at Myongji University, told The Korea Herald.

Although Rep. Jang Je-won raised fresh speculation that Hanwha donated 800 million won to buy two horses for Choi Soon-sil’s daughter Chung Yoo-ra, Hanwha refuted the claim. 

“Other than Jang, most lawmakers found it hard to uncover new information from the chiefs, because their questions were not sharp or new,” said Chung Sun-sup, CEO of Chaebul.com.



The tycoons, for their part, also mostly remained unresponsive to the questions.

The heads repeated “I don‘t know” to key questions such as when they became aware of the presence of Choi or whether they deemed the donations as bribes, a strategy widely anticipated by many, as the session was televised live.

Samsung Electronics’ Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was bombarded with questions as his company took the center stage in the political scandal, repeated, “I am not able to talk about it now because the investigation is ongoing.”

Instead of answering “Yes” or “No” to the questions, Lee stuck to theoretical answers, saying, “I am sorry,” “I will be better in the future” and “I will try harder not to disappoint the public.”

Such negative portrayals of the tycoons during the parliamentary hearings will have negative impacts on the companies, industry watchers said.

“It is certainly worrisome for the companies to be portrayed in a criminal image denying any knowledge,” said an anonymous executive from one of the conglomerates.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)