Prosecutors
in Seoul have brought charges against the US founder and CEO of the smartphone
taxi service Uber, Travis Kalanick. Authorities say Kalanick was indicted for
violating passenger transport laws.
Deutsche Welle, 24 Dec 2014
Deutsche Welle, 24 Dec 2014
Lawyers
representing the South Korean government indicted Travis Kalanick, founder and
CEO of smartphone taxi service company Uber, on Tuesday. Kalanick was found to
have operated an illegal business, according to local media reports.
The Uber
chief was indicted in absentia by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors'
Office, the Yonhap news agency reported. Another local taxi service, who's CEO
went by the name of Lee, was also charged under a law regulating passenger
transport, but was not immediately arrested.
It wasn't
clear whether Kalanick would come to Seoul for trial.
Seoul's
local city government filed complaints saying Uber's operations raised concerns
about passenger safety and threatened the livelihood of licensed taxi drivers.
Authorities launched a crackdown on drivers and rental cars that operated with
Uber.
A reward of
up to one million won (around $900) was offered for information on Uber's
activities.
South
Korean drivers have been angry that Uber has taken over a chunk of their
business. Uber, a mobile phone app which connects taxi drivers to passengers,
sparked angry protests by taxi drivers in France and Germany earlier this year
who felt threatened by the app's growing popularity.
The company
was also banned in the Indian capital New Delhi earlier this month after one of
it's drivers allegedly raped a woman passenger.
mg/jm (AFP,dpa)
Related Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment