The Chairman of the National Pension Service Moon Hyung-pyo was summoned Tuesday by the independent counsel team on the suspicion of having pressured the National Pension Service to favor the merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries last year, when he was welfare minister.
Moon was summoned as a witness but may turn into a suspect during the investigation, according to local news reports.
Before entering the office of the special counsel, Moon denied the alleged influence-peddling, saying, “I will explain it all during the investigation.”
When asked if backing the merger had helped him become chief of the NPS, he replied, “That is nonsense.”
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NPS Chairman Moon Hyung-pyo enters the office of the independent counsel in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap) |
In May last year, the announcement of a merger between Samsung’s two affiliates with a ratio of 0.35 Cheil shares per Samsung C&T share had stoked strong opposition from advisory firms which said Samsung C&T’s share was excessively undervalued.
Despite the opposition and speculations of foul play, the NPS -- then the largest shareholder of Samsung C&T -- cast a vote for the merger in July, without convening a special committee consisting of professional outside advisors.
The special investigation team suspects President Park Geun-hye’s longtime friend Choi Soon-sil had pressured Moon to back the deal in return for financial support provided by Samsung. A month after the NPS’ vote, Samsung Electronics signed a consulting agreement amounting to 22 billion won ($18 million) with Widec Sports -- an entity controlled by Choi -- in Germany.
On Tuesday, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea called for Moon to resign as the NPS chief, claiming the Samsung deal caused a loss of around 300 billion won to the public pension fund.
“The special investigation team is viewing that the NPS suffered such a loss because Moon was unduly involved in the controversial deal,” said Rep. Hong Ik-pyo of the Democratic Party.
By Shin Ji-hye (
shinjh@heraldcorp.com)
