Korean Air matriarch grilled over illegal maids

SEOUL: The matriarch of the troubled Korean Air dynasty was grilled yesterday over allegations she used company resources to illegally hire foreign housekeepers, as a probe into the scandal-hit family widened.

Lee Myung-hee ( pix), 69, who was questioned by police twice last month over multiple assault claims, was interrogated by immigration authorities over suspicions she hired over 10 Filipina maids to work at her family home on false pretences, by claiming they were working for Korean Air.

Korean law permits only ethnic Koreans or those married to Koreans to work as housekeepers.

The authorities suspect Lee had the airline’s human resources department and its Manila branch recruit the housekeepers and provide the Filipinas with documentation.

“I didn’t,” she replied to questions on if she ordered Korean Air officials to hire the housekeepers, removed evidence by letting them leave the country after the claims emerged, and had bought their silence. “I will cooperate closely,” she told journalists after she appeared at the Korea Immigration Service.

A week earlier, a Seoul court turned down a request from prosecutors to arrest Lee over allegations of assault against drivers, housekeepers and company employees as well as construction workers renovating her home and building a Korean Air-affiliated hotel.

The alleged abuses range from cursing and screaming at employees to kicking, slapping and even throwing a pair of scissors at them.

But the court said there was a low risk of Lee fleeing or destroying evidence, and that the charges were disputable.

Lee and her family have found themselves the object of public anger following a series of scandals including that of her two daughters, who held management positions at South Korea’s national carrier, in temper tantrums dubbed “nut rage” and “water rage”. – AFP