Prosecutors Summon Yoon Dong-sik, KT Cloud CEO... Investigation into 'Boeun Investment Suspicion'

by Ryu Hyunseok

Published 09 Jan.2024 19:31(KST)

Updated 06 Feb.2024 16:17(KST)

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The prosecution investigating KT's alleged 'boeun investment' is summoning and questioning Yoon Dong-sik, CEO of KT Cloud.

The Fair Trade Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Yong Seong-jin) summoned CEO Yoon on the 9th as a suspect in connection with KT Cloud's alleged breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

The prosecution is reportedly investigating CEO Yoon regarding the circumstances under which KT Cloud acquired Spark & Associates (Spark, now Open Cloud Lab) at a high price in September 2022.

KT Cloud purchased 100% of the shares of Spark, a vehicle cloud company founded by former CEO Park Seong-bin, for 20.68 billion KRW.

There are suspicions that this was a premium payment of tens of billions of won as a form of boeun in return for Hyundai Motor Company acquiring Airplug, a company owned by former KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo's brother, who faced management difficulties in 2021.

The prosecution intensified the investigation by conducting raids on KT headquarters, KT Cloud, and Spark offices in August last year. Last month, they also raided Hyundai AutoEver's headquarters and summoned former Hyundai AutoEver CEO Seo Jeong-sik for questioning.