Key Topic at National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on 25th
Lee Bok-hyun "Cannot Answer Whether Individual Cases Will Be Investigated"
Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, is speaking at the full meeting of the Political Affairs Committee held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 25th. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 25th, during the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee meeting where the 'Sambu Construction stock manipulation suspicion' was a hot topic, Lee Bok-hyun, the Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), responded that "we are inspecting various theme stocks, including Sambu Construction, according to the usual system."
During the morning briefing to the Political Affairs Committee, when opposition lawmakers asked whether the FSS was investigating the suspicion of stock manipulation involving Sambu Construction, Governor Lee said, "We are inspecting according to the usual system," adding, "I cannot comment on whether an investigation is underway for individual cases or whether specific fact-checking for investigation is being conducted."
He continued, "An investigation cannot be conducted solely based on a sudden surge in stock prices or raised suspicions," and added, "In fact, it is a kind of theme stock, and besides Sambu Construction, related theme stocks have surged recently."
He also stated, "At least dozens of people must have known about the event (before the news came out), but it is difficult to uniformly explain the cause of the stock price increase."
Governor Lee said, "We also agree that there is a high possibility that the surge stocks have problems," and added, "Since there is a system in place, we will operate the monitoring system well so that the public does not have to worry."
When Yoon Han-hong, the chairman of the Political Affairs Committee, pointed out that "you are responding complacently as if the system is working well," Governor Lee replied, "We will thoroughly review the appropriate criticism raised today."
Recently, opposition lawmakers have raised suspicions of stock manipulation involving Sambu Construction. On May 22, Sambu Construction's stock price surged after news broke that it would participate in the Ukraine reconstruction project, rising about fivefold in two months. The main evidence is that trading volume increased 40 times just before the stock price surge. Another background to the suspicion is that Lee Jong-ho, who was identified as an accomplice in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case involving First Lady Kim Geon-hee, sent a message in a KakaoTalk chatroom before the stock price rose saying, "Check Sambu tomorrow."
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