Police arrested two wanted Korean fugitives – the previous and present chairman of the Ssangbangwool Group – on a golf course in Thailand yesterday after eight months on the run.
According to prosecutors in South Korea, the pair had been arrested by Thai police on a golf course in Pathum Thani province simply north of Bangkok at 7.30pm.
South Korean prosecutors suspect that the former chairman Kim Seong-tae is central to several high-profile corruption scandals throughout the underwear firm. He is facing several corruption charges including embezzlement, violations of the capital markets act, and switch of money remittances to North Korea.
Kim is suspected of inciting dozens of individuals, including Ssangbangwool staff, to smuggle around US$6.four million to China between 2018-19 and transfer it to North Korea.
He can also be suspected of paying the legal professional expenses of Lee Jae-myung, the chief of the Democratic Party, with firm funds when Lee was being prosecuted for violating the election regulation in 2018 throughout his term as governor of Gyeonggi Province.
The allegations occurred while Kim was still chairman of the conglomerate.
Kim fled South Korea in May, some eight months ago, when he was being investigated for embezzlement. He went to Singapore earlier than hiding out in Thailand.
Index arrested the present Chairman of the Ssangbangwool Group, Yang Seon-gil, on the golf course, who fled Korea at an identical time to Kim.
After the pair fled South Korea, prosecutors put out Interpol pink notices for their arrests, froze high-value shares owned by Kim under pretend names, and invalidated their passports.
Korean officials are working with Thai police to extradite Kim and Yang to South Korea as quickly as possible..