People Power Party has stated on the 18th that it will thoroughly investigate the alleged fraudulent bond issuance by Homeplus and the breach of trust allegations against MBK Chairman Kim Byung-joo, amid growing national suspicions regarding Homeplus's corporate rehabilitation procedure application.
Policy Committee Chairman Kim Sang-hoon said at a parliamentary countermeasure meeting that day, "As suspicions regarding MBK's fraudulent bond issuance and breach of trust related to Homeplus are expanding, we will work with financial authorities to ensure thorough investigations and measures to prevent recurrence, as local businesses, individual creditors, and the National Pension Service are at risk of suffering."
Earlier, on Mar. 4, Homeplus and its major shareholder MBK Partners applied for corporate rehabilitation (court receivership). However, there is controversy over whether they issued various bonds worth 594.9 billion won without presenting specific self-rescue measures while being aware of a credit rating downgrade.
Chairman Kim noted, "Homeplus claims that the problematic bond issuance was decided before the credit rating downgrade, and MBK founder Chairman Kim Byung-joo has expressed his intention to contribute personal funds to resolve the payment issues of small business owners, but nearly 70% of the public does not trust this explanation and there has yet to be specific mention of the scope of personal fund contributions."
He added, "There is a growing public sentiment that a thorough investigation into breach of trust and tax evasion allegations is necessary, as MBK is shifting the excessive financial repayment burden of Homeplus and damaging the company's competitiveness, along with allegations of offshoring tax evasion by Chairman Kim Byung-joo."
Chairman Kim also said, "In 2015, the National Pension Service invested over 600 billion won in Homeplus, and considering the maturity interest rate, over 900 billion won should be retrieved, but only 313.1 billion won has been recovered so far," expressing concern about potential losses for the National Pension Service. According to the industry, if Homeplus proceeds with improving its financial structure and short-term debt repayment as well as workforce efficiency measures, a total of 2 trillion won is expected to be needed.
The National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee will hold a plenary meeting that day to inquire about the current issues related to the Homeplus situation. However, the key party involved, MBK Partners Chairman Kim Byung-joo, will be absent due to an overseas trip. Four individuals, including MBK Partners Vice Chairman Kim Kwang-il, Homeplus Co-CEO Cho Joo-yeon, Shin Young Securities President Geum Jeong-ho, and Homeplus Entrance Association Vice Chairman Kang Kyung-mo, are expected to attend.