Hankook Tire Chairman Cho Hyun-beom, who is accused of embezzlement and breach of trust of 20 billion won, has been arrested.
At around 0:50 on the 9th, Jae-nam Yoon, chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, issued an arrest warrant for Chairman Cho.
Chief Judge Yoon explained the reason, saying, “There is a concern regarding destroying evidence.”
Earlier, at around 3:00 pm on the 8th, Chairman Cho appeared at the Seoul Central District Court for interrogation of the suspect before arrest (examination of warrant validity).
Chairman Cho did not respond to reporters’ questions regarding his feelings ahead of the interrogation and whether he admitted the charges, and quickly headed to the courtroom.
Chairman Cho is accused of being involved in unfairly supporting Hankook Precision Works (MKT), a subsidiary of Hankook Tire, by buying tire molds at a higher price than competitors from 2014 to 2017. A tire mold is a mold used to carve a tire pattern.
Prosecutors believe that Hankook Tire over-reflected manufacturing costs when calculating the price of tire molds, designing MKT to increase its gross profit margin by more than 40 percent, and that the owner’s family swindled private interests in the process. As MKT grew, Chairman Cho and other related parties received KRW 10.8 billion in dividends from 2016 to 2017.
In addition, Chairman Cho is accused of causing damage to the company by lending money to the company even though he knew of Rihan’s poor management. As a primary partner of Hyundai Motor Company, Lee Han has been experiencing financial difficulties, such as applying for a workout to the Korea Development Bank in 2018.
The prosecution is known to have grasped the circumstances in which Chairman Cho borrowed regarding 10 billion won from Korea Precision Works and lent it to Park Ji-hoon, CEO of Rihan. It is said that Park is close to Chairman Cho, attending high school and college together in the United States.
In addition, Chairman Cho is accused of misappropriating company funds for personal use, such as paying lease and purchase costs for a luxury foreign car with company funds and ordering construction for personal use from acquaintances.
Previously, prosecutors caught Chairman Cho on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust, and conducted a search and seizure of Chairman Cho’s home, Hankook Tire’s headquarters, and the residences of group affiliates and related persons.
(Seoul = News 1)
