The special counsel team for the "Kim Keon-hee state capture" probe (Special Counsel Min Joong-ki) sent Chair Yang Nam-hee and former Vice Chair Lee Gi-hoon to trial on charges of manipulating the stock price of Well Biotec. It also indicted and detained a KOSPI-listed company chair, identified by the surname Lee, on charges of harboring a fugitive for aiding the former vice chair's flight.
According to legal sources on the 27th, the special counsel team indicted without detention Chair Yang and former Vice Chair Lee on charges of fraudulent unfair trading under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and also indicted and detained Chair Lee on charges of obstructing justice, including harboring a fugitive and aiding a fugitive.
Prosecutors say Chair Yang and former Vice Chair Lee distributed false and exaggerated press releases in May 2023 as if Well Biotec were participating in Ukraine's reconstruction project, pushed up the stock price, then sold at high prices to pocket about 21.5 billion won in illicit gains.
They are also accused of transferring about 16 billion won worth of convertible bonds (CB) held by Well Biotec to name lenders at prices far below fair value, obtaining about 30.5 billion won in property gains and simultaneously causing losses to the company (breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes).
The special counsel team stressed, "This case is a serious crime that destroys the trust and order of Korea's capital market." The team previously sought arrest warrants for Chair Yang twice, but the court dismissed both, citing insufficient substantiation of the allegations.
The special counsel team also sent seven people, including Chair Lee of a KOSPI-listed company who aided the former chair's flight, to trial on charges such as harboring a fugitive and aiding a fugitive. Specifically, Lee is accused of aiding the flight of the former vice chair, who fled ahead of a detention review.
According to the special counsel team, the former vice chair did not appear for a substantive review of a detention warrant on the 7th and went into hiding, then was arrested in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, 55 days after fleeing. At the time, Chair Lee took the former vice chair to Lee's villa in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, to hide.
Accomplices also shared burner phones with the former vice chair to build a secret communication network, then helped the former vice chair's flight by moving from a guesthouse in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, to an officetel in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, a pension in Uljin County, North Gyeongsang Province, and an office in Mokpo.
The special counsel said, "We have declared that we will respond strictly to obstruction of justice such as aiding a fugitive and harboring a fugitive," adding, "We pursued key fugitives to the end to arrest and indict them, and indicted one accomplice who aided a fugitive by detaining on charges of harboring a fugitive and indicted six without detention."