Four Domestic Banks Paid 1.45 Billion Won in Interest... 91.1 Billion Won of Prince Group Funds Frozen as 'Cambodia Crime Ringleader' [2025 National Audit]

Prince Bank located in the Prince Group headquarters building in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo by Yonhap News.

It has been revealed that the local subsidiaries of domestic banks in Cambodia paid a total of 1.45 billion won in interest alone to Prince Group, which has been identified as being behind criminal activities in Cambodia.

Jeonbuk Bank had the largest transaction volume with Prince Group and was also the only bank to have dealings with Huiyuan Group, which is under suspicion for money laundering involving virtual assets.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to the office of Kang Min-guk, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, on October 27, four banks-Jeonbuk Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, and Woori Bank-paid a total of 1.454 billion won in deposit interest to Prince Group. Jeonbuk Bank paid the most at 708.7 million won, followed by KB Kookmin Bank (673 million won), Shinhan Bank (61 million won), and Woori Bank (11 million won).

These banks are holding 91.175 billion won of Prince Group's funds, which have been independently frozen by the banks in accordance with international sanctions.

The total transaction amount between Prince Group and domestic banks has also been recalculated to 214.686 billion won, an increase from the 197.045 billion won initially identified by the Financial Supervisory Service. Of this, Jeonbuk Bank accounted for more than half with 125.208 billion won, followed by KB Kookmin Bank with 70.788 billion won, Shinhan Bank with 7.709 billion won, Woori Bank with 7.021 billion won, and iM Bank with 3.96 billion won (overseas remittance).

It was also confirmed that Jeonbuk Bank holds one current account opened by Huiyuan Group in August 2018. A current account is a demand deposit account used for issuing checks and promissory notes, and the current balance for Huiyuan Group is 100,000 won. However, due to the nature of such accounts allowing free deposits and withdrawals, the total transaction volume over the past seven years could not be confirmed.

As concerns have been raised that criminal organizations involved in Cambodian crimes may have laundered "dirty money" through the local subsidiaries of domestic banks, there are calls for additional investigations by financial authorities. Of particular note is that some of the banks that transacted with Prince Group are also partner banks for real-name verification accounts at domestic virtual asset exchanges.

Assemblyman Kang emphasized, "It is urgent to designate those involved in criminal activities as targets for financial transaction sanctions," adding, "Given that some of the banks that dealt with Cambodian criminal organizations are also banks that provide verified accounts for domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, a thorough investigation is needed to determine whether money laundering took place."