The representative of the project company, who disappeared with 25 billion KRW for the Gyeongnam Hapcheon Video Theme Park hotel construction project, was followed by the project company's nominal representative and vice president being consecutively arrested.
The Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency's Metropolitan Investigation Unit announced that arrest warrants for the project company's nominal representative Mr. A and vice president Mr. B were issued around 6 p.m. on the 8th.
According to the police, they signed a business implementation agreement with Hapcheon-gun and Yongju-myeon in September 2021 to build a hotel within the Video Theme Park and were carrying out the project, but are suspected of using the project funds for other purposes.
It was investigated that the project funds they withdrew multiple times were used for personal debt repayment and company operating expenses.
The Changwon District Court Geochang Branch held a pre-arrest hearing (warrant substantive examination) for the two on the 8th and issued arrest warrants citing concerns over flight risk.
Earlier, Mr. C, the de facto representative of the project company and identified as the main culprit, disappeared with 25 billion KRW of project funds but was arrested and detained on the 6th of last month.
The police plan to decide whether to apply for arrest warrants for the remaining executives after completing investigations following the arrest of the de facto representative, nominal representative, and vice president.
The Hapcheon Video Theme Park hotel construction project involves building a hotel with 200 rooms and a total area of 7,336㎡ on a 1,607㎡ site within the theme park.
According to the agreement, the project company invested 4 billion KRW, and the remaining 55 billion KRW was financed through real estate project financing (PF) loans.
In March this year, Hapcheon-gun, while reviewing the project company's request for an increase in project costs due to inflation, discovered excessive spending by the project company and reported five project company officials, including the de facto representative who was unreachable, for breach of trust, embezzlement, and violations of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act.
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