SK Networks Chairman Choi Shin-won gets under investigation for allegedly creating slush funds.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office summoned Chairman Choi as a suspect for questioning, legal sources said on Jan. 7. Choi has been the chairman of SKC from 2000 to 2015 and SK Networks from 2016.
The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) detected a suspicious cash flow worth 20 billion won at SK Networks in 2018 and handed over related information to the prosecution.
This case has been under internal investigation by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for a long time, including tracking accounts, and was reassigned to the first anti-corruption investigation division in the second half of 2020.
Since then, the prosecution has booked Chairman Choi on charges of embezzlement and other charges under the law on aggravated punishment of certain economic crimes.
The prosecution has been confirming whether Chairman Choi mobilized affiliates to form slush funds and then diverted them overseas.
Choi is the son of late SK Group founder Choi Jong-gun and a cousin of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.