Lee Alleged to Have Set up Paper Company
The police have launched an investigation into allegations that Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong set up a paper company in an overseas tax haven for tax evasion.
The Financial Crime Investigation Unit at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on Dec. 20 that it was looking into allegations that Lee violated the Act on Aggravated Punishment for Specific Economic Crimes by evading taxes, conceal criminal proceeds and hiding his personal property overseas.
On Nov. 17, the police summoned the accuser for questioning.
Earlier, Newstapa, an investigative online media outlet, raised suspicions in October that Lee established a paper company under a borrowed name in British Virgin Islands, a tax haven, to open an account at a Swiss bank in 2008.
After the report, the Youth Justice Party filed a complaint against Lee with the prosecution, and the case was handed over to the police for investigation.
If the amount of evaded tax is more than 500 million won, the case will be directly investigated by the prosecution, but the prosecution has not directly launched an investigation into the case because the specific amount of the tax Lee has allegedly evaded has not been disclosed.