Prosecutors have indicted eight executives of Hyundai Oil Bank which is suspected of discharging wastewater with unsafe levels of the chemical, phenol. 

The Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office on Friday indicted the eight executives, including a former CEO, as well as the refinery company itself on charges of violating the Water Environment Conservation Act. 

Hyundai Oil Bank is suspected of discharging some 330-thousand tons of wastewater containing phenol exceeding permissible levels from its plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province to a nearby plant operated by its affiliate, Hyundai OCI, between October 2019 and November 2021.

The company is also suspected of vaporizing and releasing one-point-three million tons of wastewater via a chimney at a gas removal facility in one of its factories between June 2017 and October of last year. 

According to the environment ministry on Friday, it alerted the major refinery last October of its plans to slap 150-point-nine billion won in fines on the company for such releases of wastewater.