'Fugitive Hanbo Group chief died in Ecuador last December'

Prosecutors escort Chung Han-keun, the son of Hanbo Group's former chairman, after he arrived at Incheon International Airport, Saturday, from Panama after being on the run from embezzlement charges for 21 years. Yonhap

By Kim Hyun-bin

Prosecutors have obtained key evidence regarding the death of Chung Tae-soo, the former head of the now-defunct Hanbo Group, who went on the run in 2007 during an investigation into embezzlement allegations.

According to the prosecution, Tuesday, Chung's fourth son Han-keun, 54, who was caught recently in Panama after 21 years as a fugitive, testified that his father died in Ecuador, Dec. 1, 2018.

Following his testimony, prosecutors received his belongings, which Panamanian authorities had seized, through the foreign affairs ministry. Among the seized items were the former chairman's death certificate issued by the Ecuadorian government, a burial urn and a fake Kyrgyzstan passport. The certificate read that a person, who had the same name as the one on the fake passport, had died of cardiac arrest last December.

The senior Chung had been on trial for allegedly embezzling school funds worth 7.2 billion won from Gangneung Yeongdong University, in which he served as the chairman of the board of directors.

He had been on the run since 2007 when he left the country after getting permission from the authorities to get medical treatment in Japan. In May 2009, in Chung's absence, a court sentenced him to three-and-a-half years in prison, which he would have had to serve upon his return to Korea.

The prosecution confirmed earlier that the former chairman was living in Kyrgyzstan after staying in Kazakhstan. He had hired nurses to treat his illness, which he paid for from the embezzled school funds. The government had asked the authorities of the two countries to extradite him.

Prosecutors plan to ask the Ecuadorian government to confirm the authenticity of the death certificate.

If his death is confirmed, the government will not be able to collect 222.5 billion won in overdue taxes.

The prosecution also plans to request a local court to resume the trial of Han-keun for embezzlement. He fled in 1998 amid allegations that he embezzled 32.2 billion won from a subsidiary of Hanbo Group and stashed the money in a Swiss bank account.