Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Former Bohae Bank chief arrested
By Kim Rahn
The former head of a Mokpo-based mutual savings bank was arrested after months of hiding overseas from the prosecution’s investigation on suspicion of his part in illegal loans.
Investigators at Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office said Thursday that they arrested Park Jong-han, former chief of Bohae Bank, late Wednesday and are questioning him over his alleged criminal activities.
Bohae is one of the mutual savings banks operations of which have been suspended for illegal lending and poor management. Park, who fled to New Zealand in late 2009, was on the prosecution’s wanted list.
The former banker recently said through his lawyer that he would deliver himself to the prosecution, and he was arrested upon arriving at Incheon International Airport.
Park is suspected of having illegally lent 240 billion won to companies during his tenure between August 2008 and November 2009.
He allegedly received 200 million won from the beneficiaries in return for influence-peddling.
Prosecutors are interrogating Park over how he committed the illegal lending, whether he received money in kickbacks, and whether he lobbied policymakers or financial supervisors to cover his irregularities.
“His acts led to the bank’s poor financial condition, and he allegedly used some bank funds for his overseas stay,” a prosecutor said.
Lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties have agreed to launch a parliamentary investigation into irregularities involving savings banks. More than 280 lawmakers submitted a letter of request for investigation to the National Assembly plenary session, Thursday.
They plan to investigate the leak of information on the suspension of operations to the banks’ VIP customers, financial authorities’ lax inspection of the banks, government plans to confiscate bank executives’ improper gains such as kickbacks and future plans to improve regulations governing savings banks.
But the scope of their investigation didn’t include the banks’ alleged lobbying of politicians and government officials.