Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.
Kumho chief under probe over slush fund
By Lee Hyo-sik
Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo is under investigation for allegedly creating a slush fund worth 10 billion won ($9 million) in borrowed-name bank accounts, according to the prosecution.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said its investigators found at least 10 borrowed-name bank accounts set up by Park’s close aides during a probe into his younger brother Chan-Koo’s alleged creation of a slush fund. Chan-koo is the chairman of the petrochemical unit of Kumho Asiana Group, Kumho Petrochemical.
On April 12, prosecutors raided the headquarters of Kumho Petrochemical in downtown Seoul over allegations that Park Chan-koo had created a slush fund, confiscating accounting documents and computer disks. He is suspected of having amassed the slush fund by paying more money than actual costs to subcontractors and retrieving the difference.
The prosecution estimates that as much as 10 billion won has been amassed in over 10 borrowed-name accounts for Park Sam-koo, adding it will soon summon group executives and his family members for questioning.
A prosecution official said investigators secured a testimony from an executive of Kumho Petrochemical’s subcontractor that he had opened a bank account at the request of one of group executives a long time ago.
“We discovered unusual transactions in a bank account opened under the name of the executive of the Kumho subcontractor. We believe that about 10 accounts opened under borrowed names are connected to Park Sam-koo and his close aides,” the official said.