"Hiding Construction Delays and Embezzling Billions"... Investigation into Suspected Solar Power Fraud in Sinan

Victim Claims, "Contract Was Signed Despite Knowing of Construction Delays"

KEPCO Documents Indicate Foreseeable Delays...Complaint Filed

Jeonnam Police Conduct Face-to-Face Investigation and Review Contract Status

The police have launched an investigation after receiving a complaint alleging that a solar power developer in the Jeonnam region lured investors into investing billions of won by promising to sell a power plant, but then failed to fulfill the contract.

According to a report by The Asia Business Daily on May 15, victim A recently filed a complaint with the Jeonnam Police Agency's Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2, accusing two individuals—including Mr. B, the CEO of solar development company S located in Jeonnam—of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud), as well as business-related breach of trust and business-related embezzlement.

According to the complaint, on September 30, 2024, Mr. B and others signed a comprehensive transfer agreement with Mr. A for two out of six 1MW solar power plants located in Samdu-ri, Imja-myeon, Sinan-gun, Jeonnam. The agreement stipulated that ownership rights to the power plants would be transferred to Mr. A after construction was completed.

A comprehensive transfer is a contract form in which the entire business—including rights and obligations, assets, and liabilities—is transferred in bulk, rather than individually transferring each asset or liability.

Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency Premises

Mr. B and others assured Mr. A that the power plants would be completed and transferred by December 31, 2024, and received an initial contract payment totaling 700 million won in three installments (400 million won on September 30, 2024, and 300 million won on October 29, 2024).

However, citing delays in Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) construction (distribution and power lines) due to civil complaints, they postponed the contract's completion date by nearly a year and received an additional 100 million won around September 2025, claiming it was for an interim payment.

Later, around December 2025, they claimed to have completed the "pre-operation inspection after KEPCO construction" and demanded an additional final payment of 3.15 billion won from Mr. A as an interim and final payment, bringing the total amount received to 3.95 billion won, according to the complaint.

Despite Mr. A having paid the full required amount, he claims that Mr. B and others have still not fulfilled their obligations to complete and transfer the power plants as promised in the contract.

The complaint also states that although it was foreseeable that construction would not be completed within the promised timeline—due to delays in the KEPCO distribution line construction—Mr. B and others failed to provide sufficient explanations or information regarding this issue.

In fact, Mr. A's side has presented an official document issued by Korea Electric Power Corporation as key evidence.

This document states that the construction to change the power plant's outgoing lines had already been delayed since September 2023 due to civil complaints raised by local residents.

The victim further asserts that the accused parties claimed "completion by the end of 2024" at the time of the contract, despite already being aware of the construction delays.

The official KEPCO document is also said to state that the delay was caused by civil complaints along certain sections and that neither KEPCO nor its contractors were at fault.

Mr. A claimed, "Even after the completion of the power plant, Mr. B's side kept delaying fulfillment of the contract for various reasons. Although the pre-operation inspection was completed in November 2025, they did not notify me, and only sent a certified letter on December 3 of the same year to demand payment of the interim and final amounts."

He added, "It appears to have been a deceptive act designed to apply financial pressure by depriving me of the opportunity to secure loans from financial institutions in advance."

Meanwhile, the police reportedly completed a face-to-face investigation involving both the complainant and the accused in April and are currently looking into the circumstances surrounding the signing of the contract, the flow of funds, and whether the contract was fulfilled, based on the filed complaint.

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