Chey Tae-won, SK Corp. Chairman, Was Arrested

The Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office (SDPO) arrested Chey Tae-won, SK Corp. chairman, and Kim Chang-geun, SK Group restructuring chief, on charges of misappropriation regarding insider stock trading on Feb 22.

Mr. Chey and Mr. Kim were accused of resulting in a total loss of 207.1 billion won for SK C&C and SK Global, both SK Group’s affiliates, 111.2 billion won and 95.9 billion won, respectively through swapping Chey’s unlisted Sheraton Walkerhill Hotel shares with SK Corp. stocks and their involvement in a secret stock transaction contract with JP Morgan, an American investment bank.

According to the SDPO, Mr. Kim took the initiative in the illegal insider trading, which was intended to boost Chey’s control over SK Corp., and the secret stock transaction contract with JP Morgan at the request of Mr. Chey.

Prosecutors have decided to prosecute another eight executives at SK Group affiliates, including Kim Seung-jung, CEO of SK Global, and Yoon Seok-kyung, CEO of SK C&C, and to ask for an arrest warrant for one of them.

They also plan to summon SK Group chairman Son Kil-seung, head of the Federation of Korean Industries, who People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a civic group, reported was involved in the secret stock transaction with the American investment bank, for inquiry.

However, an official with the SDPO said, "There is no evidence showing Mr. Son’s involvement in the secret transaction, so the possibility of prosecuting him is very slim."

Meanwhile, prosecutors examined financial documents of SK Global, but failed to find separate books for misappropriation.

Myoung-Gun Lee Jin-Kyun Kil gun43@donga.com leon@donga.com