Mumbai: The Seoul High Court has quashed a three-year prison sentence imposed on Hyundai Automotive Group chairman Chung Mong-Koo over a multi-million dollar scam and instead imposed a suspended sentence and ordered him to undertake community service - including delivering speeches on the need for ethics in business.

Chung, 69, was also asked to pay an 840 billion won ($894.9 million) donation, previously pledged by the family, in lieu of the jail term.

The Hyundai Motor Group chief is now free to run the world''s sixth largest automaker. The decision not to jail South Korea''s second richest man eliminated concerns over a management vacuum at the company, which is facing a slowdown in overseas sales and increasing competition.

The ruling could, however, revive a long-held debate on South Korea''s powerful and controversial "chaebol" - the family-run conglomerates which opponents say have been given special treatment owing to their importance to Asia''s fourth-largest economy.

"Hyundai Motor is the top enterprise because of its ripple effect on the whole economy. The accused, Chung Mong-koo, is a symbol of Hyundai Motor and our country''s automobile industry," Lee Jae-hong, the presiding judge at the Seoul High Court, said while handing down the sentence.

"I did ask many people, including restaurant waiters, taxi drivers and reporters. The ordinary people leaned toward a suspended sentence," he said. "That means the accused should work hard."

Chung had been sentenced in February for breach of trust and embezzling 90 billion won ($97 million) in company funds through fraudulent accounting. He had been free on bail pending appeal.

Prosecutors accused the Chung family of raising the slush fund through a Hyundai Motor unit to bribe government officials, politicians and bankers in return for business favours.

The Hyundai Automotive Group, which includes affiliate Kia Motors, is the world''s sixth largest. It controls 70 per cent of the South Korean auto market and accounts for 5.4 per cent of the country''s gross domestic product.