The National Tax Service has launched a special tax probe into Meritz Securities following Hana Financial Group and Hana Bank, according to findings on the 11th.
On this day, the Fourth Bureau of Investigation at the Seoul Regional Tax Service is conducting a tax investigation into the Meritz Securities headquarters. The Fourth Bureau of Investigation handles non-routine tax investigations of corporations. It is reported that the Fourth Bureau of Investigation detected suspicions of tax evasion by Meritz Securities and launched the tax probe.
Meritz Securities is also under prosecution investigation on suspicion that a former executive at an affiliate used nonpublic information. A former Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance executive is suspected of learning in advance about the Nov. 2022 announcement of a merger between Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance and Meritz Securities, using family accounts to buy shares, and reaping gains worth hundreds of millions of won.
The National Tax Service on the 8th launched a special tax investigation into Hana Financial Group and Hana Bank. This has prompted expectations that the special tax probes by the National Tax Service could expand across the financial sector. These successive investigations followed President Lee Jae-myung saying at a Cabinet meeting on the 6th that "the public nature (of financial companies) is too weak," and pointing out that "the very idea that 'making money is everything, that is the purpose of existence for that financial institution' is the problem."