Lee Woong-yeol, former chairman of Kolon Group, was handed over to the court on charges of concealing the ownership of stocks under borrowed names. Lee resigned from the front line of management in November last year, saying, "I will do a new business."
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted Lee without detention on charges of violating the capital market law on Feb. 14.
Lee is suspected of holding 380,000 shares of the affiliates of the late Kolon Honorary Chairman Lee Dong-chan, who died, under borrowed names, and not reporting them even after selling some or hiding them. Lee violated the capital market law because he failed to comply with the reporting obligations related to stock ownership.
The prosecution also charged Lee with violating the real-name financial law, judging that he kept stocks under borrowed names or secretly sold them to avoid taxes.
Earlier, the National Tax Service conducted a tax investigation into former Chairman Lee and others in 2016 and filed a complaint with the prosecution. It said that Lee evaded inheritance tax.
The prosecution, which took over the case, detected additional charges of violating the capital market law in the course of investigating the alleged tax evasion.
