Prosecutors have detected signs of illegal payment of real estate project financing (PF) loan fees by an employee of Saemaeul Geumgo and have launched an investigation.
On the 29th, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office announced that it had conducted a search and seizure at eight locations, including the headquarters of the Saemaeul Geumgo Central Association and related branches, the previous day. It is known that prosecutors secured materials such as PF loan ledgers through the search and seizure.
According to prosecutors, Mr. Noh, who was in charge of the Saemaeul Geumgo lending group, is suspected of paying consulting fees to consulting firms established under the names of acquaintances of his acquaintances. Mr. Park, a former employee of the Central Association, and Mr. Oh, an employee of Saemaeul Geumgo, each created consulting firms under the names of their spouses and acquaintances to receive fees. It is reported that Mr. Noh paid approximately 880 million won to the consulting firms as consulting fees.
These fees occurred during the execution of an 80 billion won PF loan for the development of the Cheonan Baekseok area, underwritten by Korea Investment & Securities in April last year. Although the Saemaeul Geumgo lending group was supposed to receive the fees, they were diverted to the consulting firms. The two consulting firms received PF loan fees for a total of four cases related to Korea Investment & Securities, including Cheonan Baekseok, Cheonan Asan, Songpa Garak, and Pohang Haksan. The total amount of fees received by Mr. Park and Mr. Oh is reported to be as high as 2.6 billion won.
Some expect that prosecutors will launch a comprehensive investigation starting with this search and seizure.
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