Former Woori Holdings Chairman Sohn Tae-seung's arrest for 'relatives' unfair loans'

Sohn Tae-seung, former chairman of Woori Financial Group, will be examined for arrest at 2 p.m.
Financial Supervisory Service "Woori Bank's Unfair Loan Situation"...a request for a prosecution investigation
Prosecutors detect additional illegal loans worth 8 billion won for "Son Tae-seung."

[Anchor]
Sohn Tae-seung, former chairman of Woori Financial Group, who is suspected of unfair loans by his relatives, is at a crossroads.

Prosecutors suspect former Chairman Sohn was involved in illegal loans worth KRW 40 billion,
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reporters to learn more.

Reporter Lim Ye-jin, is the warrant hearing going on soon?

[Reporter]
Since 2 p.m., the Seoul Southern District Court has been questioning former chairman Sohn before his arrest.

Former chairman Sohn, who attended the court, headed to the court without answering questions from reporters.

Earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service asked the prosecution to investigate allegations that Woori Bank unfairly lent about 35 billion won to corporations or private businesses related to former chairman Sohn's relatives from April 2020 to January this year.

After nearly three months of investigation, the prosecution believed that there was an additional illegal loan worth 8 billion won and indicated it in the arrest warrant bill.

The prosecution is checking whether there was an order or acquiescence from former chairman Sohn in the process of a large amount of unfair loans.

In a two-day recall investigation on the 20th and 21st, Sohn denied most of the related charges.

The prosecution explained that it requested an arrest warrant for Chairman Sohn on the 22nd because it judged that the issue was serious and that there was a risk of destroying evidence, such as kissing Woori Bank officials who were converted to suspects.

Arrest is expected to be decided tonight or early tomorrow morning.

In addition, the prosecution believes that current management, including Woori Bank President Cho Byung-kyu, did not immediately report to the financial authorities even though they were aware of the unfair lending process.

Recently, President Cho was turned into a suspect and seized and searched Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul for three days from the 18th to the 20th to secure related data.

A total of three people have been put on trial in connection with the case so far, with former chairman Sohn's brother-in-law, identified only by his surname Kim, and former head of Woori Bank's headquarters, who are considered key officials in unfair loans, being arrested and indicted in September and October.

I'm YTN Lim Yejin from the social studies department.