The court notified Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE, to appear as a witness in the trial regarding the alleged violations of the Capital Markets Act by former and current Kakao executives.
According to the legal community on the 13th, the 15th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court (Director General Yang Hwan-seung) sent a subpoena to Chairman Bang on the 8th. Chairman Bang must appear in court on the 20th of next month unless there are special circumstances.
This trial concerns the alleged violations of the Capital Markets Act by Kim Beom-soo, the founder of Kakao. Kim is accused of conspiring with private equity fund One Asia Partners and others to manipulate the stock price of SM Entertainment (hereafter referred to as SM) higher than 120,000 won during the acquisition process on February 16-17 and 27-28, 2023, to obstruct HYBE's public offering.
The prosecution is reportedly planning to investigate what discussions took place between Chairman Bang and Founder Kim during the acquisition of SM by Kakao through witness examination. According to the prosecution, the two met on February 14, 2023, regarding the SM acquisition agenda, and Chairman Bang requested that he not pursue the acquisition of SM Entertainment. However, the prosecution believes that Founder Kim rejected HYBE's proposal with the intention of acquiring SM Entertainment.
The prosecution sees Chairman Bang as a key witness in this trial. The prosecution requested his witness designation in last year's trials, stating that "the meeting between Chairman Bang and Founder Kim is a crucial point in this case." At that time, the prosecution noted, "Bang Si-hyuk submitted a complaint to the Financial Supervisory Service alleging that Kakao made a large-scale purchase of SM shares to block the public offering," adding, "there has been no investigation into what discussions occurred between HYBE and Kakao regarding the SM acquisition based on what Chairman Bang experienced directly during his meeting with Chairperson Kim."
Initially, the court was not planning to designate Chairman Bang as a witness. However, it seems that they deemed it necessary to summon him after Lee Jae-sang, CEO of HYBE, who was designated as a witness in the previous trial, failed to appear.