Prosecution Requests Arrest Warrants for Kim Young-jun, Chairman, and Three Other Ewha Electric Executives

Investigation on Alleged Violation of the Capital Markets Act
Suspicions of False Disclosure and Use of Non-public Information

Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The prosecution investigating suspicions surrounding the suspension of stock trading of Ewha Electric has moved to secure the custody of the company's management.

According to the legal community on the 20th, the Tax Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Jin-yong) filed arrest warrants on the previous day against four executives of Ewha Electric, including Kim Young-joon, chairman of E Group (formerly Ewha Group), on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act.

Earlier, Chairman Kim was arrested and indicted in May last year on charges including the creation of slush funds worth hundreds of billions of won, tax evasion, and breach of trust.

In the same month, as news of the arrest warrant request for Chairman Kim and others became known, trading was suspended for three E Group affiliated listed companies?Ewha Electric, E-Tron, and E-ID?and in September of the same year, the Korea Exchange's Listing Committee decided to delist them.

The prosecution suspects that Ewha Electric attempted to prevent the suspension of trading through false disclosures, such as deliberately hiding the occurrence of substantial reasons for a listing eligibility review from the exchange.

The listing eligibility review is a comprehensive examination process to determine whether there are issues with maintaining the company's listing, and if designated for review, trading suspension continues.

Additionally, the prosecution is reportedly investigating the possibility that Chairman Kim and other executives engaged in illegal activities using undisclosed information.

A prosecution official explained, "The arrest warrants were filed against the management regarding the issue of using undisclosed information by E Group." Chairman Kim was released on bail in December last year and is currently on trial without detention.