South Korean prosecutors have raided the office of US investment fund Lone Star, which is involved in the country's largest ever financial deal, as part of a probe into allegations of business irregularities.
Some 60 investigators searched the offices and homes of Lone Star officials with warrants to arrest the fund's former executive, Steven Lee, and others, prosecutor Chae Dong-Wook said Thursday.
Lee, a 36-year-old Korean American, is now believed to be in the United States. After a seven-hour search, the investigators left with boxes of documents and computers.
"The search was to acquire evidence on criminal activities involving Lone Star," Chae said.
The prosecutor refused to say how many arrest warrants were issued but said he would ask the United States to hand over Lee, who is accused of evading tax and embezzling company money.
About 10 people, including Lone Star Korean officials, were banned from leaving the country pending questioning, he added.
Lone Star is currently selling a 51-percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), lask week picking Kookmin Bank as the potential buyer in a deal worth more than six billion dollars.
Shareholder and nationalist activists are trying to block the sale, which could see Lone Star reap of profit of about five billion dollars, claiming it will avoid taxes.
Prosecutors said they were not probing this KEB sale but were looking at Lone Star's original acquisition of the bank.
"Our investigation is a separate issue from the process of selling" KEB, said Chae.
However, Lone Star, which acquired its stake for 1.38 trillion won (1.4 billion dollars) in October 2003, is suspected of possible irregularities related to its original purchase of KEB, prosecutors said.
Kookmin officials said the investigation would not affect its deal with Lone Star but KEB shares fell 1.2 percent to 12,200 won amid concerns there could be some fallout.
Lone Star is also being probed for allegedly evading tax payments worth 14.7 billion won in a business transaction last year.
Lone Star reaped 280 billion won by selling a building in Seoul but refused to pay taxes, arguing the transaction was executed through a unit based in an offshore tax haven, according to tax officials.
Additionally, Lone Star is suspected of having illegally transferred 8.6 million dollars overseas, Chae said, with prosecutors also investigating allegations that the government had illegally rushed the sale of KEB.
"Along with our investigation into charges of tax evasion and illegal transfer of foreign currency abroad, we are also probing allegations that KEB was sold for scrap value," he said.
Activists have accused former KEB executives and government officials of exaggerating KEB's poor financial health so they could achieve a quick sale.
The latest probe came amid increasing concerns that South Korea is becoming unfriendly to foreign capital. Lone Star and other foreign funds were targetted only last year by a separate audit concerning allegations of tax evasion.
That reflected a new climate of economic nationalism in South Korea, which has steadily tightened rules on foreign investors who made huge profits by acquiring prime assets in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
Prosecutors are also looking into allegations that a lobbyist arrested last week on charges of bribing politicians and government officials was involved in KEB's sale, Chae said.
A top Hyundai Motor executive was arrested Sunday for embezzling a secret company fund. Prosecutors have questioned Hyundai officials to see whether the lobbyist, Kim Jae-Rok, who served in 1997 as an aide to former president Kim Dae-Jung, had used Hyundai's money for his activities.
출처 : Yahoo / News / Business / AFP