 |
Staff Reporter
Prosecutors asked a local court Thursday to issue a warrant for the arrest of Taekwang CEO Park Yeon-cha on charges of tax evasion and alleged insider trading in the sale of Sejong Securities to Nonghyup, and bribery.
Park, a strong supporter of former President Roh Moo-hyun, allegedly purchased shares of Sejong Securities in 2005 before Nonghyup took over the firm and then sold them. He raked in 20 billion won through the deal and evaded billions of won in tax as he bought some of the shares under borrowed names.
Prosecutors said they are still investigating whether he exploited insider information in the stock deal ― an allegation Park denies.
He also evaded another 20 billion won in income tax through a paper company in Hong Kong.
Park allegedly offered two billion won in bribes to former Nonghyup head Chung Dae-kun in 2006 to facilitate Taekwang's acquisition of a Nonghyup affiliate, Huchems. Taekwang later took over the firm at a bargain price, and if the influence-for-money allegation is confirmed, the prosecution plans to charge both Chung for breach of trust and Park as an accomplice.
Chung is behind bars for another bribery case.
After 15 hours of questioning, Park admitted to tax evasion involving Sejong Securities and paying a two billion won bribe to Chung, according to prosecutors, but denied allegations of insider trading and tax evasion through the paper company.
The Sejong Securities and Nonghyup scandal also involves former President Roh Moo-hyun's elder brother, Roh Geon-pyeong, who was arrested last week on charges of taking three billion won from a Sejong executive who sought his influence in the acquisition. The elder Roh was close to the former Nonghyup chief Chung, and admitted to influence peddling.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
![Second Trump impeachment [PHOTOS]](http://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/newsV2/images/Y2021011403933_f56c3d83257d7.jpg/dims/resize/268/optimize)
