An audio file in which first lady Kim Keon-hee said she had agreed to split revenue from Deutsch Motors stock trades with the account management firm "60-40" was played in court.
The Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 27 (Presiding Judge Woo In-seong) held the second hearing on the 15th for Kim, who was indicted on charges including violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.
At the hearing, A, a former securities firm employee who managed Kim's Mirae Asset Securities account from 2004 to 2018, appeared as a witness. The special counsel presented recorded currency between Kim and A made over the securities firm's phone from Nov. 2010 to around Jan. 2011.
According to the recording, after Kim entrusted the operation of her Mirae Asset home trading system (HTS) account to another firm, she frequently checked with A on how Deutsch Motors stock transactions were being conducted. It also showed that she discussed revenue sharing with the HTS account operator with A.
In a Jan. 13, 2011 currency between Kim and A, when A said, "When (the Deutsch shares) were sold off purely, the money left was 2,577,000,000 won," Kim said, "I agreed to give 40% from there," and added, "If we decided to split it 60-40, how much do we give them over there? It seems we have to give almost 270,000,000 won."
A then said Kim had agreed to give the people on the cyber side 40% of the remaining profit after excluding the block deal fee, and answered "Yes" when the special counsel asked whether the 270,000,000 won amount had been correctly calculated.
The special counsel believes Kim's promise of a 40% revenue split came because she knew about former Chairman Kwon Oh-soo and others' stock price manipulation and expected a high rate of return. Kim's side countered, "It was not a prior revenue-sharing agreement, but a request from the account management firm for a 60-40 revenue split after a profit was made."
A also said that around Nov. 2011, while reporting the HTS account status to Kim, he got the impression that someone was managing Deutsch Motors stock at the time. He said the market index fell on the day of the currency, but Deutsch Motors' share price rose instead.
However, when Kim's side said, "If there are 100 stocks with price management, aren't only a very few of them illegal operation (stock rigging) forces?" A said, "That's right." A continued, "In the market, for each stock, investors and fund managers also 'manage.' If a stock is good, they keep buying more; out of 100, a few might be operation forces, but there are many that are not."
Meanwhile, the court had planned to call People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok as witnesses this month to look into the "Myung Tae-gyun nomination interference" allegation, but the special counsel withdrew the witness requests that day.