Kim Bong-hyun, Identified as 'Rhyme Body,' Detained... Court Cites Risk of Evidence Tampering and Flight

After five months on the run, Kim Bong-hyun, chairman of Star Mobility and identified as the key financier behind Lime Asset Management's 1 trillion won redemption suspension scandal, is coming out of the detention center at Suwon Southern Police Station in Gyeonggi Province on the morning of the 24th to be investigated by the Intelligent Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Kim Bong-hyun, chairman of Star Mobility, who has been identified as the main figure in the Lime Asset Management scandal involving damages worth 1.6 trillion won, was detained on the 26th.

Han Woong-hee, a judge at Suwon District Court, held a pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant review) at 3 p.m. that day and issued an arrest warrant for Chairman Kim. Judge Han stated the reason for issuing the warrant was "concerns over evidence destruction and flight risk."

Earlier, Chairman Kim appeared as he left the detention center of the Suwon Nambu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province to attend the warrant review. He did not respond to reporters' questions and moved to the Suwon District Court.

Chairman Kim is accused of embezzling 24.1 billion won of company funds from Suwon Passenger Transport, a bus company in Gyeonggi Province (embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes).

After an arrest warrant was requested in December last year for this case, he went into hiding and evaded capture for about five months until he was caught by police in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul on the 23rd.

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