Cho Young-tak, CEO of IMS Mobility, who is suspected of being an accomplice of Kim Ye-sung, who is called the "butler" of Kim Gun-hee's family, was arrested on charges of giving tens of millions of won to a reporter in exchange for writing an article in favor of the company.
Lee Jung-jae, a senior judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, issued an arrest warrant on the 6th against Cho, who is suspected of giving evidence, breach of trust, and embezzlement, saying there is a concern about destroying evidence. According to the Hankyoreh report, Cho is suspected of paying an incumbent business reporter monthly in the form of a monthly salary to write a friendly article about his company. The money Cho delivered to the reporter is known to be close to 100 million won. Min Min-ki's special prosecutor team, which is investigating the allegations of Kim Gun-hee, is also investigating the reporter on charges of taking over the allegations of breach of trust.
The special prosecution team is investigating allegations that IMS Mobility, a rental car company owned by Kim Ye-sung, who was identified as a deacon of Kim's family, received 18.4 billion won in unfair investment from Kakao Mobility, HS Hyosung, and Shinhan Bank through private equity firm Oasis Equity Partners in 2023. The independent counsel team believes that Kim and Kim were close to each other in the background of such companies' investments, and is looking into whether the investments were made in return and insurance. In addition, not only Kim but also CEO Cho was involved as an accomplice in attracting the investment by IMS Mobility, and requested an arrest warrant for CEO Cho on the 2nd.
Earlier, the independent counsel team requested an arrest warrant for CEO Cho on August 29, but the court rejected the arrest warrant at the time, saying, "There is a lack of clarification on the need for arrest, flight, and fear of destroying evidence." Since then, the independent counsel team has confirmed Cho's alleged breach of trust and re-requested the arrest warrant through a reinforcing investigation, including calling him back on the 27th of last month.
The independent counsel team is expected to focus on investigating Cho, who has since been arrested, whether Kim's influence played a role in investing in large companies in IMS Mobility.
Reporter Bae Ji-hyun [email protected]
"Whether it’s the people who get paid to write articles or those who pay them to do so…
Anyway, the people around Kim Kun-hee all seem to work like this.
They’re more familiar with fraud than with the law.
All I can do is sigh."