Gyeonggi-do's Agricultural Corporation Tax Evasion Investigation 'Results'... Heavy Sentence for Phantom Corporation in Pyeongtaek

A heavy sentence was handed down to a group involved in planned real estate fraud who established ghost agricultural corporations to acquire farmland and evaded acquisition tax through false agricultural management plans in the Pyeongtaek area of Gyeonggi Province.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 16th, the Supreme Court sentenced the mastermind of the planned real estate fraud to 6 years in prison, and two accomplices to 2 years and 1 year and 6 months respectively at the end of last year. The corporation that acquired the farmland was fined 20 million won.

The mastermind of the planned real estate fraud, Mr. A, established C Agricultural Corporation by appointing his accomplice Mr. B as the representative, and falsely reported that rice farming would be conducted on the acquired farmland, thereby receiving a full exemption of 21 million won in acquisition tax.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

Subsequently, Mr. A, together with his spouse Ms. D, operated from an office located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and divided the farmland acquired by the agricultural corporation to sell it to dozens of people, embezzling over 2 billion won in trading profits. They deceived buyers by selling farmland with virtually no development potential as if it would soon be developed at a high price. Mr. A used a multi-level marketing method, paying 10% to sales staff who sold the land, and 2% to team leaders, department heads, and executives.

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province conducted a local tax criminal investigation in 2020 targeting 37 agricultural corporations suspected of improper acquisition tax reductions, and reported 7 agricultural corporations including the one involved in this case, along with 13 representatives, for local tax evasion and other charges.

The commonality among the agricultural corporations under investigation is that they resold the acquired real estate, divided among dozens of people, at prices dozens of times higher either before or immediately after paying the balance.

No Seung-ho, head of the Tax Justice Division of Gyeonggi Province, emphasized, "We will continue to investigate and strictly punish local tax evasion acts using agricultural corporations to ensure they are eradicated."

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