Kim Keon-hee's 'housekeeper', Ms. Kim Ye-seong's wife, Ms. Jeong, appeared at the Special Prosecutor's Office for Kim Keon-hee on the morning of the 23rd.
Ms. Jeong attended the Special Prosecutor's Office located at the KT Gwanghwamun Building West in Jongno, Seoul, around 9:30 a.m. She did not respond to reporters' questions, including 'Where is Mr. Kim now?' and 'Is it true that he pocketed 4.6 billion won through a shell corporation?'
The Special Prosecutor's Office is investigating the circumstances under which 18.4 billion won was invested in IMS Mobility (formerly Be My Car), where Mr. Kim served as an executive, by large corporations and financial institutions in 2023. The companies that invested include HS HYOSUNG subsidiaries, Kakao, Korea Securities Finance, and Kiwoom Securities.
However, controversy arose when it became known that 4.6 billion won of the investment was used by 'InnoVest Korea,' where Ms. Jeong was listed as the CEO, to buy back shares it had previously owned. The Special Prosecutor's Office suspects that some of the 4.6 billion won obtained by InnoVest Korea may have flowed to Mr. Kim and possibly even to Ms. Kim.
Mr. Kim is currently reported to be in Vietnam. Instead of Mr. Kim, his wife, Ms. Jeong, appeared first at the Special Prosecutor's Office. It is understood that the Special Prosecutor's Office has placed a travel ban on Ms. Jeong. In response to allegations that Mr. Kim fled to a third country, his lawyer reportedly said, 'That's not true.'
Meanwhile, the Special Prosecutor's Office summoned Lee Jong-ho, the former CEO of Black Pearl Invest, as a suspect for violations including the lawyer's act, related to the 'Deutsch Motors stock manipulation' case at 10 a.m. on the same day. This is the second time that Mr. Lee has been questioned by the Special Prosecutor's Office following the 21st. Mr. Lee is known to have played a 'control tower' role in the core investigation into the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case.
He, mentioned as a close aide to Ms. Kim, was indicted along with eight others, including former Deutsch Motors Chairman Kwon Oh-soo, on charges of involvement in the stock manipulation case at Deutsch Motors that occurred from 2009 to 2012, and his suspended sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court.
In this case, Mr. Lee was found to have led stock price manipulation alongside former Chairman Kwon using accounts under other names during the second operation period classified from October 2010 to December 2012. The court determined that three accounts belonging to Ms. Kim and one account of her mother, Ms. Choi Eun-soon, were used for market manipulation, and Mr. Lee was identified as the individual managing Ms. Kim's accounts.