The financial authorities have decided to refer those involved in the 'Homeplus incident' to the prosecution earlier this week. Authorities reportedly captured indications that Homeplus issued short-term bonds while preparing for corporate rehabilitation.
According to financial authorities and the financial sector on the 20th, the Financial Services Commission plans to transfer allegations of fraudulent transactions involving Homeplus and its major shareholder, MBK Partners, to the prosecution through an emergency action (fast track) by the Securities and Futures Commission. A regular meeting of the Securities and Futures Commission is scheduled for the 23rd, but it is highly likely that the notification to the prosecution will occur before that.
Industry sources indicate that Kim Byung-joo, chairman of MBK Partners; Kim Kwang-il, vice chairman and co-CEO of Homeplus; and Jo Joo-yeon, CEO of Homeplus, will be among those subject to the prosecution notification.
In the meantime, financial authorities have been investigating suspicions of fraudulent transactions, suspecting that Homeplus and MBK Partners hid their preliminary preparations for a corporate rehabilitation application while issuing short-term bonds. While MBK Partners claims it has been preparing for the corporate rehabilitation application since the credit rating of Homeplus was downgraded on Feb. 28, the financial authorities have deemed this to be false.
According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, as of the 3rd of last month, the sales amount of asset-backed securities (ABSTB) issued based on Homeplus-issued commercial paper (CP), short-term bonds, and credit card receivables was 589.9 billion won. Among them, the amounts sold to individuals and general corporations were 197 billion won and 311.9 billion won, respectively.
The financial authorities are expected to continue to exert pressure on MBK Partners through inspections and audits, even after submitting materials related to the Homeplus incident to the prosecution.