[2020 National Audit] Kang Min-guk "Financial Supervisory Service Gives VIP Treatment to Kim Jae-hyun, CEO of Optimus Asset Management"… Yoon Seok-heon "Difficult to Conclude"

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has been accused of colluding with and abetting the fraudulent activities of Optimus Asset Management.

Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, is attending the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee hearing on the 13th and responding to lawmakers' questions during the audit of the Financial Supervisory Service. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the 13th, during the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee audit, Kang Ming-guk, a member of the People Power Party, revealed a recording between Yang Ho, chairman of Optimus Asset Management (former president of Nara Bank), and an FSS employee, claiming, "Optimus attempted to lobby the FSS through former Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hyun-jae, and the FSS treated the fraudulent asset management company Optimus as a VIP."

According to the transcript, Chairman Yang said to CEO Kim Jae-hyun, "Is the Lee Hyuk-jin case now over by the FSS's directive? I am scheduled to meet Minister Lee Hyun-jae at 4 p.m. on Monday, so there is no need to make a request unnecessarily." Kang explained in the previous day's audit that former President Yang Ho and former Deputy Prime Minister Lee Heon-jae, who was an advisor to Optimus, are alumni of Kyunggi High School and share a 'close relationship.'

Capture of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee Audit

In another transcript released that day, Chairman Yang told CEO Kim Jae-hyun's secretary, "Please take a picture of the car number and send it to me. I am going to the Financial Supervisory Service next week, and they said they would treat me as a 'VIP,' so they asked for the car number..."

There was also evidence suggesting a meeting with Choi Heung-sik, then head of the FSS. Former Director Choi is also an alumnus of Kyunggi High School, like former Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hyun-jae. In the transcript, Chairman Yang is heard speaking to an FSS employee, saying, "I work at an asset management company, and I have a meeting with Director Choi Heung-sik on November 2..."

Rep. Kang pointed out, "At that time, Optimus Asset Management was facing many issues such as failing financial soundness and complaints including the lawsuit against Lee Hyuk-jin. The company's future was very uncertain, and under normal circumstances, Optimus should have been wound down, but it survived. This can only be seen as collusion with the FSS, Korea's financial prosecutor."

In response, Yoon Seok-heon, head of the FSS, said, "There are suspicious parts based on circumstantial evidence, but it is difficult to make a definitive statement."