Kim Keon-hee's special investigation team announced on the 4th that it is summoning the representative of SAMBU Construction, against whom allegations of 'stock price manipulation' have been raised. This comes just a day after launching a search and seizure operation at the SAMBU Construction headquarters.
On that day, special investigator Moon Hong-joo noted during a media briefing, 'We are summoning Lee Eung-geun, the former representative of SAMBU Construction, to investigate him starting around 2 p.m. today.'
The special investigation team conducted search and seizure operations on six companies, including SAMBU Construction's headquarters, the major shareholder DYD, and Lee Seok Industrial Development, which sold SAMBU Construction shares. Investigator Moon said, 'The search and seizure operations that began in the morning concluded around 11 p.m., and we will proceed with analyzing the seized items and summoning related parties as quickly as possible.'
The allegations of stock price manipulation involving SAMBU Construction revolve around claims that from May to June 2023, SAMBU Construction officials artificially inflated stock prices as if they were embarking on reconstruction projects in Ukraine, selling off stocks for hundreds of millions of won in illicit gains.
The Democratic Party of Korea raised allegations that Lee Jong-ho, the former representative of Black Pearl Investment, who was identified as the account manager for Mrs. Kim in the Deutsch Motors stock price manipulation scandal, was also involved in this case. It is said that after Lee sent a message in a group chat saying 'Check SAMBU tomorrow,' the trading volume of SAMBU Construction surged, and its stock price skyrocketed.
The former representative being investigated by the special investigation team, Lee, served as the CEO of SAMBU Construction from 2018 until last year. This coincides with the suspected period of stock price manipulation at SAMBU Construction.
The Financial Supervisory Service has been investigating this case for about seven months since last September. Based on this, the Financial Services Commission filed a complaint against officials of SAMBU Construction. However, Mrs. Kim and the former representative Lee were not included in the complaint. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office was jointly investigating the case with the FSS.