Prosecutors Conduct Search and Seizure at Offices of Lim Jong-ryong, Chairman of Woori Financial Group, and Jo Byung-kyu, President

The prosecution is conducting a search and seizure on the offices of Lim Jong-ryong, Chairman of Woori Financial Group, and Cho Byung-kyu, President of Woori Bank, on the 18th. The prosecution has launched a forced investigation on suspicions that the current management failed to report to financial authorities and omitted follow-up measures despite being aware of illegal loans to relatives of former Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung.

Woori Bank headquarters under prosecution search. Photo by Yonhap News

The Financial Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Soo-hong) conducted a search and seizure at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, this morning. The prosecution sought to secure internal documents, approval records, and electronic data targeting the offices of Chairman Lim and President Cho, as well as departments related to loans at Woori Bank's headquarters. This comes about a month after a search and seizure was conducted at former Chairman Sohn's residence on the 11th of last month.

The prosecution is investigating allegations that Woori Bank issued illegal loans amounting to approximately 35 billion KRW to corporations or individual business owners related to former Chairman Sohn's relatives from April 2020 to last January.

In particular, this search and seizure targets the current management, including Chairman Lim. According to relevant laws, if illegal acts by financial institution employees are discovered, they must be reported to the Financial Supervisory Service. The investigative authorities suspect that Woori Financial's management learned of the related matters around April but omitted reporting and failed to take measures such as recovering non-performing loans, suggesting an attempt to conceal the case.