Prosecutors question CEO of Qoo10 over e-commerce insolvency incidents

Prosecutors on Monday grilled an e-commerce tycoon believed to be at the center of the large-scale insolvency incidents involving online shopping platforms TIMON and WeMakePrice.

Ku Young-bae, CEO of the Singapore-based Qoo10 Group, the parent company of TIMON and WeMakePrice, underwent questioning as a fraud and embezzlement suspect at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in the morning.

He entered the prosecution office at 8:55 a.m. after telling reporters that he will faithfully undergo the investigation.

In late July, TIMON and WeMakePrice filed for court receivership due to liquidity problems that resulted in massive delayed payments to vendors on their platforms.

Prosecutors estimated the amount of suspected fraud and embezzlement at 1.4 trillion won ($1.07 billion) and 50 billion won, respectively. They also suspect that Qoo10 may have misused about 50 billion won of the shopping platforms' due payments to vendors to acquire an overseas shopping mall.

Prosecutors reportedly grilled Ku about whether he arbitrarily used the affiliated companies' funds and was involved in their irregular business operations despite knowing their financial situations were worsening. (Yonhap)