hankyoreh

Dec. 28.

The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office announced on Dec. 30 that it has indicted Hyosung Co. President Cho Hyun-joon without detention on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

The charges against President Cho, eldest son of Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Seok-rae, suggest he may have bought a one-eighth share in two U.S. real estate properties located in San Diego, California worth 850 thousand dollars without properly reporting the investments to the Ministry of Finance and Economy on Jan. 10, 2007. The statute of limitations is three years on this case, thus after Jan. 9, 2010, the prosecutor would not have been able to indict him with this charge.

Kim Ju-hyun, vice head of the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said, “We indicted Hyosung Co. President Cho Hyun-jun because the statute of limitations is imminent.” Kim added, “Prosecutors are still currently investigating other cases involving Cho’s family members and overseas real estate transactions.”

Details of the illegal real estate purchase were publicly disclosed by an independent journalist, Ahn Chi-yong, on his Web site “Secret of Korea” (andocu.tistory.com) last October. Ahn, a Korean residing in the U.S., has also posted other documents revealing that President Cho also purchased a villa worth 450 million dollars prior to his investment in the two houses in San Diego.

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