- The KDIC Traces Concealed Properties of Parties Accountable for a Financial Institution’s Failure to Redeem
Injected Public Funds.
Operation of Concealed Property Report Center
The KDIC launches thorough investigations into and traces properties concealed by parties who are part
responsible for the failures of financial institutions in order to alleviate the burden on the public brought about
by the injection of public funds into such institutions.
Investigations can be launched into properties of former management and/or employees of failed financial
institutions and default debtor corporations. Once the properties are found, immediate steps are taken to
secure the properties and redeem it to recover costs.
To perform these tasks, the KDIC launched the ‘Concealed Property Report Center’ of parties accountable for
the failure of a financial institution under the Insolvency Investigation Division headed by Mr. Lee Joong Hwan,
the managing director.
When concealed properties are redeemed, the KDIC pays a monetary reward of up to 500 million KRW to the
person who provided information of the concealed properties. The personal information of such informant is
kept confidential.
During its operation, a total of 137 cases were reported to the center, and 27.2 billion KRW was redeemed in 21
cases and 1.25 billion KRW was paid to informants.
Thorough Investigation into Properties Concealed Overseas by Expanding the Investigations to other Countries
Prior to 2010, the KDIC only investigated properties concealed in the United States. To more thoroughly
investigate properties concealed overseas, the KDIC expanded its investigations to other regions including
Canada, Japan, and Australia from 2010.
It selected 600 people who are highly probable to have concealed properties overseas, and commissioned
professional firms which specialize in investigations into hidden overseas assets, to find and report on such
assets.
Since 2007, the KDIC has chosen the United States as a preferred country to be investigated, and launched
investigations into 900 parties who are responsible for the failures of financial institutions based on immigration
and money transfer records. Consequently, 12 lawsuits (amounting to 53 million USD) were filed against
responsible parties to apply for transfer of the cases from the countries where the properties were concealed
to Korea.
Diversifying the channels to publicize the investigation into concealed properties for effective investigation
As the KDIC recognizes public interests and reports are crucial in procuring quantitative and qualitative
information on the concealed properties, it is diversifying the publicizing activities of Concealed Property
Report Center both home and abroad.
For example, domestically, in order to enhance cooperation with the relevant organizations and thereby more
effectively publicize the Report Center, the KDIC’s Report Center is now linked to the ‘Overseas Tax Evasion
Report Center’ which is operated by the National Tax Service online.
As a part of the Corporation’s efforts in publicizing the center to the public overseas, the Corporation posted a
link on the Korean community internet homepage to and delievered presentations to explain the functioning of
the concealed property report center. Also, to enable easy accessibility to the investigation into concealed
property and the report center, the KDIC has launched a toll free number for Korean residents in the United
States and Canada to report any concealed properties 24 hours a day.
Future Investigation Plans
The KDIC will periodically monitor the culpable parties who frequently make visits and transfer money
overseas. Also, it will expand its investigations to more regions including the South East Asian region, and
increase the number of staff conducting the investigations.
By enhancing the cooperation between the KDIC and relevant organizations such as the National Tax Service,
it will maximize the efficiency of investigations into properties concealed overseas.
By consistently and thoroughly conducting investigations into concealed properties of the relevant parties, it
will more strictly hold culpable parties accountable for losses they caused and at the same time contribute to
the establishment of financial order in a sound manner.
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