The police forwarded a case involving seven executives from Samsung Display to the prosecution to be further questioned on whether they stole essential technology for manufacturing organic light-emitting diode TV panels from LG Display, sources said on Tuesday.

The move comes after the police raided Samsung Display’s OLED and LCD plants in South Chungcheong Province, along with its headquarters in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province.

Samsung Display called the latest police action “customary,” saying that it was confident the executives would be released without being charged.

“We believe the seven executives will be found innocent,” said Cho Yong-woo, a spokesman for Samsung Display.

LG Display, on the other hand, claimed that the prosecution wouldn’t be involved if the charges weren’t plausible.

“We find it unfortunate that such high-level executives may have been involved in illegal activity,” said Lee Sang-wook, a spokesman for LG Display, adding that the police investigation must have yielded tangible results linking Samsung to the charges.

However, the two sides refrained from further display of emotion, as they agreed in September to pursue “cooperative” and “mutually beneficial” ties after dropping all legal lawsuits against each other ― most of them patent suits involving OLED and LCD technology.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)