Police Seek Arrest Warrant for Former KT&G Saengmyeong Science CEO Over Alleged Unfair Merger

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Financial Crime Investigation Unit Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The police have requested an arrest warrant for the former CEO of KT&G Life Sciences, who is suspected of an unfair merger with Youngjin Pharmaceutical.

According to the police on the 13th, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency applied for an arrest warrant on the 10th for Park Young-ho, former CEO of KT&G Life Sciences, and an employee of KT&G headquarters on charges including breach of trust.

KT&G has been suspected of inflating the corporate value of KT&G Life Sciences in 2016 to merge with Youngjin Pharmaceutical. At that time, the Financial Supervisory Service rejected the merger report three times, citing potential harm to investors, but the merger was forced through in January 2017.

The police, who began investigating in May last year, have been examining whether there were any issues during the merger process by questioning current and former executives of KT&G, Youngjin Pharmaceutical, and KT&G Life Sciences. In January of this year, they also conducted a search and seizure at KT&G headquarters.

A KT&G official stated, "The allegations related to the merger are not true," and added, "We will actively clarify the facts during the investigation process."

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