SEOL: The chairman of South Korea’s medium sized conglomerate Booyoung group has been banned from overseas travel in a widening investigation of alleged tax evasion.
The Ministry of Justice recently slapped an overseas travel ban on Chairman Lee Joong-keun after reviewing documents from the state tax agency and the fair trade regulator.
In April last year, the National tax service (NTS) accused Lee, 76, of evading massive tax using what the NTS called “ghost” companies registered in family members’ names. He is also suspected of being involved in an offshore tax evasion linked to the company’s construction project in Cambodia. Booyoung is the first South Korean conglomerate to be embroiled in a corruption scandal since President Moon Jae-in took office in May.
The chairman was accused in June of providing inaccurate information about Booyoung’s business structure to the fair trade commission (FTC). Booyoung was prosecuted in October on suspicion of misleading the public with fake cost data and faulty construction of apartments in Hwaseong, GyeonggipProvince.
The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office is leading the investigation into Booyoung and Lee.