Financial authorities will check whether rules were followed in the handling of assets worth 4.4 trillion won ($3.9 billion) owned by Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, the top financial regulator said Monday.
During a parliamentary audit, Financial Services Chairman Choi Jong-ku also indicated that authorities could levy taxes on capital gains earned by Lee from the assets that may have been in borrowed-name accounts.
The public scrutiny of Lee's assets again put the spotlight on the 2008 investigation in which Lee was convicted on charges of tax evasion and breach of trust.
 |
(Yonhap) |
At that time, prosecutors found that Lee owned assets, believed to be inherited from his father and the founder of Samsung Group, Lee Byung-chull, in about 1,200 accounts held by his lieutenants.
Earlier this month, Rep. Park Yong-jin of the governing Democratic Party raised allegations that financial authorities had allowed Lee to inherit the assets without paying taxes.
A 1993 law requires South Koreans to open their bank or other financial accounts using their real names.
Authorities can levy taxes on 99 percent of interest and dividend income earned from "non real-name assets."
When asked by Park on Monday over whether the FSC agrees with levying taxes against such assets, Choi replied that he agreed.
Choi told lawmakers that financial authorities will look into the procedure of withdrawing money from the borrowed-name accounts, closing them and switching them into Lee's accounts.
Park, the lawmaker, said authorities could collect taxes worth tens of millions of dollars from Lee if the procedure had been carried out in accordance with established rules.
Lee has been hospitalized since suffering a heart attack in 2014. (Yonhap)
