'26 Billion Won Concealment' Kim Man-bae's Associates Detention Hearing Concludes

Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, is entering the courtroom to attend the trial related to the lobbying and preferential treatment allegations in the Daejang-dong development project at the Seoul Central District Court on the 9th. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The pretrial detention hearings for the close aides who cooperated in concealing the assets of Kim Man-bae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management (Hwacheon Daeyu), concluded on the afternoon of the 16th.

At Seoul Central District Court, Chief Judge Kim Jeong-min, in charge of warrants, conducted the hearing for Choi Woo-hyang, director of Hwacheon Daeyu and former vice chairman of Ssangbangwool Group, for about three hours starting at 10 a.m.

Following that, from 2 p.m., the hearing for Lee Han-seong, co-CEO of Hwacheon Daeyu, continued for approximately two hours and twenty minutes. After the hearings ended, their lawyers left the court without responding to reporters' questions.

They are accused of hiding about 26 billion KRW by withdrawing profits from the Daejang-dong project in checks and storing them secretly, or by falsifying accounting records to purchase real estate under borrowed names, all under Kim’s instructions.

The prosecution reportedly argued during the hearings that, given the suspicious money transactions between them and Kim, securing their custody was necessary to verify whether additional criminal proceeds were concealed.

The decision on their detention is expected to be made late at night on the same day or in the early hours of the 17th.

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