'Jongmyo Tea Meeting Suspicion' Former Administrative Officer Yoo Kyung-ok Summoned... 'Stock Manipulation' Koo Se-hyun and Lee Ki-hoon Also Appeared

[Financial News] The Kim Geon-hee special prosecutor team (Min Joong-ki special prosecutor) has summoned former presidential office administrative officer Yoo Kyung-ok in connection with the 'Jongmyo Tea Meeting Private Use Suspicion'.
The special prosecutor team is conducting a summons investigation on former administrative officer Yoo in the capacity of a reference at the special prosecutor's office located in KT Gwanghwamun Building West, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 18th.
Kim is suspected of having a tea meeting with outsiders at Mangmyeongru located in Jongmyo, Seoul, in September last year. At that time, Kim held a tea meeting with outsiders at Mangmyeongru in Jongmyo, where public access is restricted, and the internal CCTV recording was stopped for 1 hour and 30 minutes from 2:50 PM to 4:20 PM on the day.
The special prosecutor team has already completed the fact-finding to some extent by summoning the head of Jongmyo Management Office and other Jongmyo management officials. As public officials are involved, the special prosecutor team is reviewing the legal principles of abuse of authority. The special prosecutor team judged that Kim, who holds no official position, pursued private interests using the resources of the presidential office.
Koo Se-hyun, CEO of Wellbiotech, and Lee Ki-hoon, Vice Chairman of Sambo Construction, who are under suspicion of 'stock manipulation', are also being investigated by the special prosecutor team. On this day, Vice Chairman Lee was confirmed to be under investigation for 'Sambo Construction Stock Manipulation Suspicion'.
The special prosecutor team announced that it has mostly completed the investigation of convertible bond claimants and conducted a search and seizure of the related bond dealer's office on the 15th. Wellbiotech attended the Ukraine Reconstruction Forum held in Poland in May 2023, and its stock price soared as it was grouped with Sambo Construction as Ukraine reconstruction stocks around the same time. Wellbiotech, in which Lee Il-jun, Chairman of Sambo Construction, is the largest shareholder, announced a shareholders' meeting to appoint an internal director ten days before the Ukraine Reconstruction Forum, and Yang Yong-ho, Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Association, who hosted the forum, and an executive named Han were listed as candidates for internal director. The special prosecutor believes that Wellbiotech's stock price surged as the Ukraine forum host side's official was listed as a candidate for internal director.
A summons investigation is also being conducted on Min Kyung-min, CEO of Oasis Equity Partners, in connection with 'Butler Gate'.
'Butler Gate' involves IMS Mobility, which was participated in the establishment by Kim Ye-seong, known as Kim's butler, allegedly receiving an improper investment of 18.4 billion won from companies such as Kakao Mobility, HS Hyosung, and Shinhan Bank through Oasis Equity Partners in 2023. Of the investment, 3.38872 billion won was used by Innovest Korea to purchase IMS Mobility shares (old shares), and it was revealed that Kim's spouse, Jeong, was registered as the only internal director of this company, raising suspicions that it might be a shell company owned by Kim. The special prosecutor team determined that Jo Young-tak, CEO of IMS Mobility, committed embezzlement of 3.2 billion won each during the investment attraction and old share purchase process, and Min was aware of Jo's actions to cover the company's insolvency with the money. The arrest warrant for Min was dismissed on the 3rd.




theknight@fnnews.com Jung Kyung-soo Reporter