Prosecutors will summon Kim Byung-ju, chairman of MBK Partners, soon. Kim is suspected of hiding Homeplus Co.'s financial crisis and issuing a large amount of short-term bonds, shifting losses to investors.
According to legal sources, on the 8th the Second Anti-Corruption Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Sang-hyeok) plans to summon Kim, who is suspected of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (fraudulent unfair transaction), among other charges. Prosecutors notified Kim's side of an interview date on the 11th and are coordinating the detailed schedule.
Prosecutors suspect that MBK's management, the major shareholder of Homeplus Co., issued a large amount of short-term bonds while aware of Homeplus Co.'s credit rating downgrade, causing losses to investors.
Earlier, in Jan. this year, prosecutors sought arrest warrants for four people, including Chairman Kim; Vice Chairman Kim Kwang-il of MBK (Homeplus Co. CEO); MBK Senior Vice President Kim Jeong-hwan; and Homeplus Co. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Lee Seong-jin, but the court rejected them. The court said, "Based on the materials submitted so far, there is insufficient substantiation of suspicion to justify detention."
Afterward, prosecutors reassigned the case from the Third Anti-Corruption Investigation Division to the Second, conducted a full legal review of the case, and continued to bolster the investigation. The Second Anti-Corruption Investigation Division summoned and questioned multiple times Vice Chairman Kim Kwang-il of MBK, who is also Homeplus Co. co-CEO; MBK Senior Vice President Kim Jeong-hwan; and Homeplus Co. Executive Director Lee Seong-jin. This is the first time Kim will be questioned.