An international tribunal which recently issued a verdict on the longstanding conflict between the South Korean government and Lone Star has allegedly assessed the U.S. private equity firm’s weighty responsibility on the issue.

The Ministry of Justice on Tuesday disclosed a summary of the ruling issued by the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes(ICSID) last week regarding the decade-long investor-state dispute.

According to the 21-page summary, two of the three-member ICSID panel held Lone Star partially responsible for the deflated price tag for Korea Exchange Bank, while the remaining panel member deemed the U.S. equity firm was entirely accountable for the slide.

Majority panel members pointed to the South Korean court verdict which found the U.S. firm guilty of KEB stock price manipulation, saying the Lone Star’s practice, criticized as “Eat and Run” by South Korean media outlets, can even be described as “Cheat and Run” given its guilty verdict.

However, they also argued that the South Korean government was also in the wrong to delay the sale of KEB to Hana Bank to dodge criticism from Korean politicians and the public.

They said the guilty verdict against Lone Star and missteps by the South Korean financial authorities’ were a direct and crucial factor that lowered the price of KEB, adding the two parties should equally shoulder related losses.

Last Wednesday, the panel ruled that the South Korean government should pay 216-point-five U.S. dollars to Lone Star. It is half of the decline in KEB sales price of 433 million dollars.

Source: KBS World Radio