NTS to look into offshore tax evasion suspicions

South Korea's tax agency will closely look into suspicions of tax evasion by conglomerates and their families, among others, suspected of stashing away money by using offshore tax havens, its top official said Thursday.

On Wednesday, a non-profit organization set up by former journalists disclosed three names of heads of family-owned conglomerates who have allegedly set up paper companies in the British Virgin Islands and the Cook Islands to conceal secretive money or avoid paying taxes.

The list is based on data that the organization analyzed jointly with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. There are reportedly 245 Korean nationals on the list and the organization is to unveil their names after completing the fact-checking process.

"It is early to talk about what action to take at a time when we are not sure about suspicions surrounding those people unveiled yesterday," Kim Duk-joong, the head of the National Tax Service (NTS), told Yonhap News Agency.

"(But) we will analyze the data, and if they are found to have been involved in any tax evasion, we will deal with it based on principles."

Kim noted that cracking down on offshore tax evasion is one of the top priorities for the tax agency, saying that the investigation will be carried out in line with that policy direction.

His remarks come amid growing interest in the people whose names are included on the list as a second batch of names is to be announced next week.

Two of the disclosed names on the list are Lee Soo-young, the owner of polysilicon-making giant OCI Co. and his wife. The company later confirmed that the two have held about $1 million in a bank account in the British Virgin Islands.

Earlier, an official at the Supreme Public Prosecutor's office said the prosecution is looking into suspicions surrounding the people on the list but noted that the official probe will not be launched until the NTS makes a request. (Yonhap News)