Kim Byung-joo, chairman of MBK Partners, appears in court for his arrest warrant hearing related to the ‘Homeplus Incident,’ where he is accused of fraud amounting to tens of billions of won.
Presiding Judge Park Jeong-ho of the Seoul Central District Court began the pre-arrest interrogation for Kim, along with Vice Chairman Kim Kwang-il, Vice President Kim Jeong-hwan, and Executive Director Lee Seong-jin, starting at 10 a.m. today.
Before the hearing, Chairman Kim did not respond to questions from reporters about whether he had any message for investors and Homeplus employees or if he acknowledged responsibility, as he proceeded to the courtroom.
Inside the courthouse, debt investment victims gathered and shouted terms like “swindler” at Chairman Kim.
Previously, on January 7th, the 3rd Anti-corruption Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office requested arrest warrants for the individuals on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violations of the Capital Markets Act.
Kim and others are accused of causing losses to securities companies like Shin Young Securities by issuing large amounts of electronic short-term bonds despite anticipating a downgrade in Homeplus’s credit rating and then filing for corporate rehabilitation abruptly.
The decision on whether Kim and the others will be arrested is expected late tonight.