By Kim Yoo-chul
Choi Jae-won, co-chief executive of SK Holdings, was slapped with an overseas travel ban for creating slush funds amounting to millions of dollars.
Jae-won is the younger brother of SK Chairman Chey Tae-won and is concurrently serving as a senior vice chairman and CEO at SK E&S and SK Gas.
``The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating and as part of its probe a travel ban was placed on Jae-won early this week,’’ a source said.
An SK Group spokesman said the allegations have no direct relations with the conglomerate, adding, ``This is a personal matter.”
Allegations focused on Vice Chairman Choi for receiving kickbacks in return for favors to several unnamed affiliates in connection to profitable projects.
Prosecutor sources found 12 billion won that was suspected to be the vice chairman’s pocket money in a private safe belonging to his confidant.
The confidant, identified as Kim Joon-hong, has already been charged with stock manipulation in the tech-heavy stock market, KOSDAQ.
SK is said to have invested about 200 billion won in an investment fund operated by Kim, who was a former SK executive, according to the source.
The SK spokesman declined to comment.
``Prosecutors recently raided several SK Group-affiliated firms to seize documents and other required materials related to the allegation,’’ said the source.
``Prosecutors are checking whether the recent allegation has closer relations with money that had been used for futures investment by SK Chairman Chey,’’ the source said.
Previously, the SK Chairman suffered a loss of over 100 billion won in futures investment. The National Tax Service had confirmed that Chey had invested in the futures but said it was Chey’s personal money.
The younger brother Choi was promoted to the current position during last year’s group-wide reshuffle, a move to strengthen ownership of the entire group.
SK Group has SK Telecom, the nation’s biggest mobile carrier, as one of its critical wings, while it also owns a top-tier chemical firm SK Innovation.