By Park Si-soo
The prosecution said Monday it has secured evidence that Taekwang Group had an illicit behind-the-scenes deal with Qrix Communications that guaranteed the scandal-ridden group the right to take a controlling stake in the cable TV operator.
If they had an illicit deal, the acquisition of the cable TV operator by the nation’s 40th largest group could be nullified.
Taekwang acquired a 30 percent stake in Qrix in 2006. In the process, the prosecution believes the company secured a secret promise from the largest shareholder that it could take over the entire communications company.
Taekwang acquired the remaining 70 percent in January last year, becoming one of the most influential operators relaying programs to viewers in the growing cable TV industry here.
Prosecutors said Monday they had discovered evidence that Chairman Lee Ho-jin also offered a higher-than-market price per share to successfully acquire the firm.
The latest findings emerged after computer disks and confidential documents, confiscated in a raid on Lee’s home and office over the weekend, were looked into.
They suspect Taekwang, known for low-key and cautious management, decided on an aggressive bid after learning from unidentified government informants that a bill giving greater clout to cable TV program distributors would likely receive approval at the National Assembly. The bill passed the Assembly in December 2008.
Prosecutors said it obtained the information from broadcasting regulators, who took bribes from the tycoon.
The chairman is suspected of creating tens of billions of won in a slush fund by manipulating accounting books and spending part of it to bribe politicians and state regulators.
The prosecution has imposed an overseas travel ban on the tycoon, investigators said Monday.
The Korea Communications Commission, a state broadcasting regulator, has not ruled out the possibility of nullifying the disputed acquisition should the allegation that it was based on a behind-the-scenes deal turn out to be true.