Prosecutors arrest CJ’s asset whizz

Home > National > Social Affairs

print dictionary print

Prosecutors arrest CJ’s asset whizz

Prosecutors arrested an executive from the CJ Group who allegedly had a key role in managing the group chairman’s personal assets.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, which is investigating the country’s 14th-largest conglomerate, said yesterday it arrested the vice-chairman of CJ Global Holdings, identified by the surname Shin, on late Saturday evening immediately after the Seoul Central District Court approved a prosecution’s warrant request filed on Friday.

Shin is the first CJ official being detained by the prosecution in the 18 days since it raided the group’s headquarters and affiliated companies.

“We approved the prosecution’s request because there is a possibility that the official might destroy evidence and flee overseas,” Judge Jeon Hyu-jae of the Seoul Central District Court told reporters.

The prosecution believes that Shin organized trading of CJ Group’s stock under fake names and is implicated in evading income taxes generated from the stock trading between 2005 and 2010.

Allegedly, Shin also managed branch offices of CJ in Hong Kong that are suspected of being set up to operate slush funds in cooperation with shell companies in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands.

Sources in the prosecution said that charges of embezzlement and breach of trust were on the prosecution’s request for a warrant that was submitted to the local court. The prosecution has also been alleging that CJ purchased real estate overseas including a 2.1 billion yen ($20.63 million) building in Tokyo.

“Arresting Shin is only the beginning,” a spokesman of the prosecution told the JoongAng Ilbo.

By Shim Sae-rom, Kwon Sang-soo [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)