Former Deutsche Motors Chairman Kwon Ohsu Appears Before Special Prosecutor... Focus on Kim Keonhee's Involvement

The special prosecutor team led by Min Jungki, which is investigating allegations related to First Lady Kim Keonhee, summoned Kwon Ohsu, former chairman of Deutsche Motors, on the 3rd.

The special prosecutor team announced to the media that Kwon was summoned at 10 a.m. that day for questioning in connection with the Deutsche Motors stock price manipulation case.

Kwon appears to have appeared as a reference witness. He previously received a suspended prison sentence from the court for his involvement in the Deutsche Motors stock price manipulation case. The special prosecutor team is expected to focus its questioning on whether First Lady Kim was involved in the scheme.

Kwon Osu, former chairman of Deutsch Motors, who is accused of being involved in stock price manipulation, is attending the appellate trial hearing on charges of violating the Capital Market and Financial Investment Services Act at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on July 2 last year. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

First Lady Kim is suspected of having played the role of a "Jeonju" (financial backer) by providing funds during the period from 2009 to 2012, when Kwon and others allegedly orchestrated systematic stock price manipulation using professional traders. Kwon and nine other participants in the price manipulation scheme were brought to trial and, in April, all were found guilty by the Supreme Court.

In particular, Son, who was suspected of playing a similar financial backer role as First Lady Kim, was acquitted in the first trial but found guilty on appeal, and the conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court. This was because the aiding and abetting charge, which prosecutors added as an alternative indictment during the appeal, was recognized as guilty. The court ruling explicitly stated that three accounts belonging to First Lady Kim and one account belonging to her mother, Choi Eunsun, were used in the price manipulation scheme.

However, in October last year, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office decided not to indict First Lady Kim for conspiracy or aiding and abetting in stock price manipulation, four years and six months after the complaint was filed. The decision was based on the view that she only entrusted her accounts to Kwon in hopes of making a profit and was unaware of the price manipulation scheme. After the Supreme Court confirmed the convictions of Kwon and others, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office decided to reopen the investigation into First Lady Kim and transferred the case to the special prosecutor team.