Seoul High Public Prosecutors' Office Raids SBW Group Affiliate over 'Salmon and Alcohol Party' Allegations

[Financial News] The Seoul High Public Prosecutors' Office has launched a compulsory investigation into SBW Group as part of its probe into allegations of inducement involving salmon and alcohol parties that surfaced during the investigation into the SBW Group's alleged remittance to North Korea.
According to legal sources on the 5th, the Human Rights Violation Task Force of the Seoul High Public Prosecutors' Office conducted a search and seizure at the headquarters of VIVIEN, an affiliate of SBW Group located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, starting this morning.
The raid is reportedly connected to the recent indictment of former SBW Group Chairman Kim Sung-tae and two SBW employees by the Seoul High Public Prosecutors' Office on charges of breach of trust. Kim and others are accused of instructing visiting employees to use the company’s corporate card to pay for outside food and alcohol brought into the prosecutors' office.
Previously, Lee Hwa-young, former Vice Governor for Peace of Gyeonggi Province, testified in court in April last year that, during the 2023 investigation by the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office into the SBW Group’s remittance case, prosecutors allegedly attempted to induce testimony implicating President Lee Jae Myung by arranging gatherings with alcohol and outside food.
The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office’s investigative team refuted Lee’s claims, stating that their internal review found them to be untrue. However, as Lee later changed the dates and times of the alleged gatherings, the dispute over the facts continued.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) stated that its fact-finding investigation confirmed that alcohol and food had indeed been provided, and in September, it ordered an inspection into the matter. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office subsequently formed a Human Rights Violation Task Force at the Seoul High Public Prosecutors' Office to conduct the inspection.


kyu0705@fnnews.com Kim Dong-gyu Reporter