Police Send National Tax Service Executive to Prosecution for Bribery in Paid-in Capital Increase Allocation

The police have referred a current National Tax Service executive to the prosecution on charges of gaining undue profits by participating in a paid-in capital increase of a company related to his duties.

According to the legal community on the 21st, the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency sent Mr. Yoo, an executive of the National Tax Service, to the prosecution earlier this month on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, and a representative of steel company H in the Busan area on charges of bribery offering, without detention.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system (DART), Mr. Yoo participated in the third-party allotment paid-in capital increase of company H in September 2020 and was allocated 148,148 shares. The new shares were issued at a price worth about 200 million won. At that time, Mr. Yoo was working at the Busan Regional National Tax Service.

It was investigated that Mr. Yoo earned a profit of several hundred million won one year later. The police judged that the shares received through the paid-in capital increase had a quid pro quo relationship with his duties.

The police applied for an arrest warrant for Mr. Yoo last month, but it was dismissed by the court on the grounds that "it is difficult to see a risk of evidence destruction or flight."