Govt. discovers W9.3tr assets under borrowed names in 2012-16: data

The government discovered 9.3 trillion won ($8.2 billion) worth of assets stashed away under borrowed names by more than 11,000 people over the past five years, data showed Thursday.

South Korea first introduced the real-name financial system in 1993 to stave off money laundering and tax evasion by banning transactions under phony or borrowed names and requiring people to use real names to open bank accounts or purchase stocks.

As many as 11,776 people were caught concealing assets under the names of other people between 2012 and 2016, according to the statistics by the National Tax Service.

The total translates into 790 million won in assets secretly under other people's names.

Securities were the most popular among the holders of secret assets, accounting for 6.8 trillion won held by 5,210 people.

Bank accounts came in second with 5,816 people sheltering 1.8 trillion won in savings and installment savings.

Property was the least popular with 750 people having stashed 605 billion won worth of property away under different names. 

The amount of stashed assets rose to 2.4 trillion won in 2013 from 2.2 trillion won in 2012 before falling gradually to 1.7 trillion won in 2014, 1.5 trillion won in 2015 and 1.3 trillion won in 2016.  (Yonhap)