Company

Daewoo founder loses fraud appeal

Kim Woo-choong, the founder of Daewoo Group, has lost his appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and fraud, but has had his jail sentence cut.

Kim, was found guilty of charges earlier this year, but will now serve eight-and-a-half years in prison rather than 10.

The 69-year-old also had the amount he must repay reduced from 21 trillion won (£22bn; £11

Washington chip probe eyes Sony

US authorities are investigating Sony’s electronics unit and have asked for information about its static random access memory, or SRAM, business.

It comes two weeks after the Department of Justice launched an inquiry into fellow SRAM chip makers, Samsung and Cypress Semiconductor.

Sony said it would co-operate with the investigation, which it called an industry-wide inquiry

British Gas complaints ‘double’

British Gas is not only the UK’s most expensive energy provider, it also provides the worst customer service – according to research from Energywatch.

The consumer watchdog said complaints about British Gas in the six months to September were twice last year’s total, while complaints about its rivals fell.

The top problems were inaccurate bills and the lack of response to enquiries

Mannesmann payouts retrial begins

The retrial of Deutsche Bank boss Josef Ackermann and five other former board members of mobile phone firm Mannesmann has begun in a Duesseldorf court.

Last year, the six were cleared over their roles in approving bonuses worth about 60m euros (£41m; $76m) related to Vodafone’s purchase of Mannesmann.

The decision was later overturned, reigniting the corruption trial

Regulators to investigate iSoft

Accountancy regulators are set to investigate troubled software firm iSoft and its auditors.

The Accountancy Investigation and Disciplinary Board (AIDB) is set to investigate iSoft’s directors and its former auditor, RSM Robson Rhodes.

In August, the board said it had uncovered evidence of irregularities affecting its 2004 and 2005 accounts

Total executive in bribery probe

French oil firm Total says its head of exploration and production, Christophe de Margerie, is being investigated over claims that he paid bribes to win bids.

A French judge has also placed former Total executive Bernard de Combret under investigation.

Total said the allegations centred on deals relating to the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq

Probe into BAE arms deals widens

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has widened its investigation into corruption allegations at UK defence giant BAE Systems.

Together with Ministry of Defence Police, the SFO raided three business addresses and a home earlier this week.

The SFO said the raids were not related to existing inquiries into BAE defence contracts in Romania and Saudi Arabia

Wal-Mart must pay workers $78m

The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has been ordered to pay at least $78m (£42m) in compensation to workers who were forced to work during breaks.

A jury in a Pennsylvania court decided that Wal-Mart broke a state law by refusing to pay staff for the extra work they did.

The class action was brought by about 187,000 staff who worked for Wal-Mart between March 1997 and May 2006

Fastow gets six-year term

Andrew Fastow, the former Enron finance executive, has been sentenced to six years in prison.

The US energy giant went bankrupt in 2001 with debts of $31.8bn (£18bn)

HP chairman to leave immediately

Hewlett-Packard chairman Patricia Dunn has resigned with immediate effect amid allegations of illegal spying by the US computer firm.

Chief executive Mark Hurd said he had accepted the offer from Ms Dunn, who had earlier indicated she would leave in January over the scandal.

Mr Hurd described methods used by HP to try and identify who was behind boardroom leaks as “very disturbing”