Former Kumho Chairman Park Sam-gu Detained... Court Cites "Risk of Evidence Destruction"

Former Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-gu, who is suspected of unfair support to affiliates, is attending the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 12th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Park Sam-gu, former chairman of Kumho Asiana Group, who is suspected of unfairly supporting affiliates, was arrested on the 13th.

At around 12:03 a.m. on the same day, Judge Lee Se-chang, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, issued an arrest warrant for Park, stating, "There is substantial reason to suspect that he committed the crime as alleged, and there is a risk of evidence destruction."

Park is suspected of supporting nine affiliates, including Asiana Airlines, in 2016 by having Kumho Express, which has a high ownership stake by the group head, lend funds at low interest rates. Due to this affiliate support, Kumho Express gained approximately 16.9 billion KRW in interest rate arbitrage, and Park, along with the group head's family, received profits corresponding to their special relationship shareholding (at least 7.7 billion KRW) and year-end dividends (250 million KRW). This was revealed through an investigation by the Fair Trade Commission last year. The prosecution began an investigation last year following a complaint from the Fair Trade Commission and summoned Park for questioning last month.

After completing a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant substantive examination) that lasted about six hours from 10:30 a.m. the previous day at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, Park did not respond to reporters' questions about what claims he made. Upon appearing in court, he only said, "I'm sorry." After the warrant examination, Park was detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, awaiting the result. With the warrant issued, he is expected to undergo the imprisonment procedure immediately. The prosecution plans to conduct a detention investigation for up to 20 days before indicting Park.