[Exclusive] Prosecution Conducts Additional Search of Shinpoong Pharmaceutical Headquarters and Factory over 5.7 Billion Won Slush Fund

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution investigating the slush fund creation case at Shinpung Pharmaceutical has begun securing additional evidence.

The Criminal Division 7 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Sung Sang-wook) has sent prosecutors and investigators to Shinpung Pharmaceutical's headquarters and Ansan factory since the morning of the 14th to secure materials related to the case. It is known that the prosecution launched a search and seizure operation to collect data that can verify the actual scale of the slush fund creation.

The prosecution is accelerating the investigation after detaining Executive Director A of Shinpung Pharmaceutical, who was reportedly in charge of managing the creation of a slush fund amounting to 5.7 billion won, on the 29th of last month.

Mr. A is suspected of creating a slush fund of approximately 5.7 billion won by manipulating transaction details, such as inflating prices with pharmaceutical raw material suppliers. When the suppliers issued tax invoices with inflated raw material prices, Shinpung Pharmaceutical reportedly paid only promissory notes corresponding to the actual prices, accumulating the remainder as slush funds.

The police, who initially investigated the case, estimated the slush fund created by Shinpung Pharmaceutical to be about 5.7 billion won, but the prosecution believes it could be several tens of billions of won, much higher than that. The prosecution is also considering expanding the investigation to determine whether the slush funds were used in the succession process of the owner family, including the involvement of former CEO Jang Won-jun, son of the late founder Jang Yong-taek.

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