Businessman Kim Seok-ki and his wife and actress Yoon Suk-hwa have been included on the list of those who established paper companies in tax havens, a local journalists’ group said Thursday.
The Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit organization also known as Newstapa, released five names ― three businessmen, a university president and an actress ― in its third announcement of the list of Koreans with offshore financial accounts allegedly to operate slush funds or evade taxes.
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Yoon Suk-hwa (left) and Kim Seok-ki |
The latest list included Kim, former head of merchant bank Central Banking Corp., Samsung Electronics legal compliance executive director Lee Soo-hyung, online marketing company NBIZ head Cho Won-pyo and Kyungdong University president Chun Sung-yong.
The three businessmen, along with actress Yoon, were found to have co-established a paper company named Energylink Holdings Limited in Virgin Island in 2005, according to the KCIJ
In particular, Kim established five other paper companies in the Virgin Islands from 1990 to 2001, KCIJ said in its report. Among the five, two shell companies were co-established by his wife Yoon.
An official of actress Yoon’s agency reportedly said “she only provided her name without further engaging herself into the companies’ business, because she felt distressed about her husband Kim’s business failure.”
Samsung Electronics’ Lee claimed that he was not aware of the fact that the company was a ghost company, according to the KCIJ.
University chief Chun was found to have established four paper companies in the British Virgin Islands and Singapore between 2007 and 2008. His whereabouts, however, are not known.
Previously on May 22 and May 27, the news organization had disclosed a group of Koreans who hold accounts in tax havens.
The first batch included 245 Koreans, including Lee Soo-young, chairman of OCI, a listed industrial materials manufacturer, and his wife were reported to hold a paper company in the British Virgin Islands. Also in the first batch were Family members of Cho Choong-keon, a former president of Korean Air, and Cho Wook-rae, chairman of DSDL, a real estate developer.
The second batch enlisted seven Koreans including Choi Eun-young, chairwoman and CEO of Hanjin Shipping; Cho Yong-min, former CEO of Hanjin Shipping, and Hwang Yong-deug, CEO of Hanwha Station Development.
Cho Min-ho, former CEO of SK Securities, and his wife; Lee Deog-kyu, former director of Daewoo International; and Yoo Choon-sik, former president of Daewoo Motor Poland.
By Chung Joo-won (
joowonc@heraldcorp.com)
