Police Transfer 'Italy Healthcare Fund Redemption Suspension Incident' to Prosecutors

Case Transferred to Prosecutors Investigating Same Suspicion Under Criminal Procedure Act

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The police have transferred the case of the 'Italy Healthcare Fund' redemption suspension incident to the prosecution, which is investigating the same suspicion.

According to the police on the 9th, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency transferred the case, which was reported by the Italy Healthcare Victims Solidarity, to the prosecution on the same day.

The police handed over the case following the prosecution's request to transfer it. According to Article 197-4, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Procedure Act, when a prosecutor investigates the same criminal facts as a judicial police officer, the prosecutor may request the judicial police officer to transfer the case. The judicial police officer who receives such a request must transfer the case to the prosecutor without delay.

There is a provision that if the police applied for a warrant regarding the same criminal facts before the prosecutor requested a warrant, the police can continue the investigation. However, the police explained that this provision cannot be applied because the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, which is investigating this case, conducted a search and seizure at Hana Bank headquarters on the 4th of last month.

The Italy Healthcare Fund is a financial product that invests in medical fee accounts receivable billed by Italian hospitals to local governments from 2017 to 2019. It was sold in large quantities at Hana Bank, and the fund faced repayment delays and early repayment failures starting from the end of 2019. Redemption was suspended last year, with about 500 victims and property damage estimated at around 150 billion KRW.

The Italy Healthcare Fund Victims Solidarity and others filed a complaint with the police in September against Hana Bank, seven asset management companies, three securities firms, and executives of those companies for violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud) and the Capital Markets Act (prohibition of unfair trading practices). They had also filed a complaint with the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office on July 20 of last year regarding the same suspicion, but as the investigation was delayed for over a year, they filed an additional complaint with the police including the same suspicion.

Yang Soo-kwang, representative of the Italy Healthcare Fund Victims Solidarity, said, "We hoped for joint investigation cooperation between the prosecution and police, but there is some regret. We have identified and informed the whereabouts of the suspects, but the investigation is still slow. We hope the suspects' custody will be secured as soon as possible."