The nation’s financial watchdog said Wednesday it has launched a probe into the parent company and its affiliates of the ill-fated Sewol's operator to check for irregularities in taking out loans.
The ferry Sewol's operator, Cheonghaejin Marine Co., is owned by Chonhaiji Co., a shipbuilder controlled by I-One-I Holdings Co., which has 13 unlisted firms under its wings, with their total assets reaching 560 billion won ($539 million).
According to industry data, Chonhaiji had borrowed a total of 91.8 billion won from state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) for the past seven years. KDB and other lenders have provided loans worth 200 billion won in total to the Chonhaiji and its affiliates.
Cheonghaejin Marine got 10 billion won worth of loans from KDB in 2012, taking the Sewol as collateral.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it is looking into every record of their financial transactions and the loans that they had got from local financial institutions.
"We decided to study details of all Sewol-related affiliates' loan records," said an FSS official. "We are closely looking at risk management practices and misconducts in extending loans (to the companies)."
The watchdog said it will also check the financial status of I-One-I Holdings' owner family on suspicion of receiving illegal loans from local financial firms and engaging in illicit foreign-exchange trading.
Yoo Byung-eun, a former chief of Semo Marine Co., a predecessor of Cheonghaejin Marine, and his two sons are estimated to own at least 240 billion won in assets such as stocks and properties.
Also, the country's tax agency is probing the ferry operator and the owner family over possible tax evasion and creating slush funds to buy overseas properties.
I-One-I Holdings and its affiliates had set up 13 overseas units in the U.S., France, Hong Kong and other countries with their combined assets reaching up to 100 billion won. The overseas units had jacked up their assets by purchasing properties.
The 6,825-ton Sewon, carrying 476 people, mostly high school students, sank in the Yellow Sea on April 16. Some 150 passengers are still missing.