[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Jo Dae-sik, chairman of the SK Supex Council and the second-in-command of SK Group, who is suspected of involvement in the breach of trust charges against Choi Cheol-won, chairman of SK Networks, appeared at the prosecution on the 7th.
The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Jeon Jun-cheol), which has been investigating Choi's corruption allegations, summoned Chairman Jo as a suspect for questioning on the morning of the same day. Jo Kyung-mok, CEO of SK Energy, also appeared together.
The prosecution is additionally investigating whether there was group-level involvement in Choi’s charges, who was previously indicted for causing damage to SK Group by using affiliates for personal purposes.
The summons and investigation of Chairman Jo and CEO Jo are also known to be in the same context.
The prosecution believes that they, along with Chairman Choi, forced SKC to invest an excessive 70 billion won in a paid-in capital increase of SK Telesys, which was in a state of capital erosion in 2015, causing losses to the listed company SKC.
At that time, Choi was the CEO of SK Telesys, Chairman Jo was the chairman of the SKC board, and CEO Jo was the head of SK Group’s finance office. Chairman Jo approved the agenda for SKC to invest in the SK Telesys paid-in capital increase at that time.
The prosecution plans to question Chairman Jo and CEO Jo about how the decision to participate in the paid-in capital increase was made and whether there was group-level support.
However, some in the business community argue that since SK Telesys turned a net profit from the following year thanks to SKC’s paid-in capital increase, it should be regarded as a normal business activity.
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