Board of Audit and Inspection, "Was the Optimus Inspection Inadequate?" Decides on Financial Supervisory Service Audit

Participation Solidarity "Acknowledgment of Civic Groups' Concerns on Authorities' Poor Handling of Private Equity Fund Issues"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has decided to conduct an audit on whether the Financial Supervisory Service's (FSS) inspection and supervision were appropriate in relation to the Optimus Asset Management fund fraud case.

On the 14th, the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) stated, "On October 28, civic groups including PSPD and the Financial Justice Solidarity submitted a public interest audit request to the BAI regarding the FSS's inspection and supervisory negligence in the Optimus redemption suspension incident, and the BAI recently accepted it."

According to the BAI official document titled 'Notification of Decision on Whether to Conduct Audit on Audit Request' disclosed by PSPD, the BAI notified, "Regarding the audit request submitted by your institution to the BAI on October 29 [Classification Number: 2020-Public Interest-137, Public Interest Audit Request on the Appropriateness of the Financial Supervisory Service's Inspection and Supervision of Optimus Asset Management Co., Ltd.], we have decided to conduct an audit."

Through the public interest audit request and a press conference, the civic groups pointed out that although there was an opportunity to prevent the large-scale damage caused by the Optimus fund's insolvency in June this year, the FSS did not actively respond, and rather, there are indications that the FSS favored or assisted Optimus. They emphasized the need for a thorough audit.

Accordingly, the civic groups requested confirmation on ① the fact that the FSS recognized problems with the Optimus fund from late 2019 to early 2020 but continued to allow the fund to be sold, ② the circumstances under which the FSS dismissed the complaint filed by Lee Hyuk-jin regarding the Optimus fund in April 2018, ③ whether the FSS assisted Optimus in relation to the Financial Services Commission's decision in December 2017 to postpone corrective measures, and ④ whether NH Investment & Securities confirmed with the FSS that the FSS had conducted an inspection when Optimus proposed the fund sale to NH Investment & Securities.

In response, the BAI stated that regarding item (4) of the audit request raised by the civic groups, NH Investment & Securities did not confirm with the FSS whether an inspection had been conducted after receiving the fund sales proposal from Optimus, and that the BAI will conduct an audit on the inspections carried out by the FSS on Optimus.

Earlier, on October 15, BAI Chairman Choi Jae-hyung revealed during the National Assembly Judiciary Committee's state audit that they are also reviewing the FSS's supervision related to Optimus and Lime Asset Management while auditing the FSS's operations.

An FSS official said, "I understand that the BAI is already reviewing the Optimus part as an extension of the audit related to Lime Asset Management."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.