Prosecutors questioned MBK Partners Chair Michael Byung-ju Kim as a suspect Thursday over allegations that the private equity firm caused investor losses by issuing short-term debt before Homeplus abruptly filed for court-led rehabilitation.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 summoned Kim on suspicion of aggravated economic fraud and violations of the Capital Markets Act, according to legal sources.
Prosecutors allege that MBK executives knew Homeplus faced a credit rating downgrade but proceeded with a large issuance of short-term debt securities before the retailer sought rehabilitation.
Investigators suspect Kim and other executives attempted to shift potential losses to investors by issuing the securities before Homeplus and MBK received initial notice of the downgrade on Feb. 25, 2025.
Prosecutors raided the headquarters of Homeplus and MBK in April last year, along with the residences of Kim, MBK Vice Chair Kim Kwang-il and Homeplus CEO Cho Joo-yon.
Kim and Vice Chair Kim were questioned as suspects in December.
On Jan. 7, prosecutors sought arrest warrants for the two executives, MBK Vice President Kim Jung-hwan and MBK Executive Director Lee Sung-jin, on fraud and capital markets law charges. The court rejected all four requests.
The case was reassigned from Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 to Division 2 in February for further investigation after making little progress.
Prosecutors questioned Vice President Kim on July 20 and Vice Chair Kim, who also serves as Homeplus co-CEO, on July 24.
By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)
