A local court on Friday acquitted the president of LG's home appliance division on charges of wrecking washers of rival company Samsung Electronics Co. at German shops, citing a lack of evidence.

The Seoul Central District Court found Jo Seong-jin not guilty of vandalizing three Samsung washers at two shops in Berlin in September 2014.

Samsung has claimed that LG staff members were spotted breaking the doors of Samsung's washing machines at the shops and were reported to the local police by shop clerks.

The alleged incident occurred just ahead of the Internationale Funkausstellung trade show where the two South Korean tech giants competed for the spotlight in consumer electronics.

The court, however, said the prosecution did not prove that president Jo actually broke the washers and that he had intended to do so.

The 59-year-old was also cleared of charges on obstruction of duty, which had been added when the LG Electronics Inc. claimed in a press release after the incident turned public that certain parts of Samsung's washers are vulnerable.

The court said the press release contained an expression of opinion, not a statement of fact, thus distributing it cannot be deemed as spreading false information. (Yonhap)