Lime Won Jong-jun: "Lee Jong-pil Knows Fund Management Better Than I Do"

"Problem Recognized Around Mid-2019... CIO Lee Jong-pil Responsible for Fund Asset Management"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Won Jong-jun, CEO of Lime Asset Management (Lime), the key suspect in the 'Lime Asset Management (Lime) scandal' that caused damage worth about 1.6 trillion won, claimed in court that he was not initially aware of the fund's structural changes and the occurrence of problems.

On the 21st, at the trial of former Lime Vice President Lee Jong-pil held at the Criminal Division 12 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Oh Sang-yong), Won, who appeared as a witness, said, "I am indeed the CEO of Lime, but I was hardly involved in fund management."

He explained, "There are more than 400 Lime funds alone, and if you count the assets contained in them, there are thousands of types. From the CEO's perspective, it is impossible to thoroughly understand all the funds, and I only receive separate reports when there are abnormalities in returns, etc."

He added, "The overseas trade fund was a product deeply involved by Shinhan Financial Investment, so I did not pay much attention to it," and "I only became aware that there was a problem with the fund around mid-2019."

Since May 2017, Lime invested in five overseas trade finance funds, including the 'International Investment Group' (IIG) fund, using fund investment money and Shinhan Financial Investment's total return swap (TRS) loan funds.

Among them, the IIG fund became insolvent, and Lime is suspected of continuing to sell the fund despite being aware of this. It has been investigated that Lime used methods such as transforming the fund into a 'parent-child fund' structure to conceal the insolvency.

He claimed that matters related to fund management were handled by the alternative investment headquarters managed by former Vice President Lee Jong-pil, and that he, who was in charge of the marketing headquarters, was focused on other company issues and was unaware of the trade fund-related issues.

When the defense attorney for former Vice President Lee asked, "If the CEO did not know, wouldn't the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Lee Jong-pil also not know well?" Won shifted responsibility by saying, "Originally, the CIO should know the fund asset management in more detail than the CEO."

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