Kim Seong-tae, former chairman of the Ssangbangbang Group, who fled abroad while being investigated by the prosecution on charges of embezzlement and was caught in Thailand after eight months, was found to be facing an illegal stay lawsuit in the country.
According to the legal community, former Chairman Kim will be tried tomorrow (12th) in Thailand to determine whether he is illegally staying.
Former Chairman Kim left for Singapore ahead of a search and seizure by the prosecution at the end of May last year, when he was being investigated for embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and then moved to Thailand and continued to escape for nearly eight months.
Former Chairman Kim visited a golf course in Pathum Thani, Thailand with Yang Seon-gil, the current chairman of the Ssangbangbang Group, and was caught by the local immigration team.
All of them are illegal aliens because they have been placed on Interpol red notices and have their passports invalidated.
However, former chairman Kim is known to deny that he is not staying illegally.
If former Chairman Kim denies illegal stay in the trial process to be held tomorrow, an official trial date will be set later, and it will take more time before repatriation to Korea.
If former chairman Kim admits to staying illegally, it is expected that it will take about a month to go through procedures such as documents and repatriate to Korea.
It is said that former Chairman Kim lived with two Ssangbangwool employees like secretaries even while on the run, and played golf almost every day.
Chairman Yang, who had been on the run after leaving for the United States before former Chairman Kim, is known to have been arrested after moving to Thailand recently.
In the midst of this, on the 9th, the prosecution requested arrest warrants for six executives and employees of affiliates on charges of helping them escape abroad or destroying evidence related to various corruption allegations.
Among them, executives of Kwanglim affiliates, such as Mr. A, are accused of smuggling 640,000 US dollars abroad with 10 employees before and after 2019.
It was also found that two people, including Mr. A, held a birthday party for former Chairman Kim at a karaoke in Thailand on July 29 last year, when former Chairman Kim was on the run.
At the time, it was reported that six people, including employees of Ssangbangwool affiliates, attended the birthday party after leaving Korea with 12 frozen Styrofoam boxes containing fruits, abalone, and kimchi.
It is said that they brought two bottles of liquor per person and served them, while hosting a grand birthday party accompanied by a famous singer.
A preliminary review of the warrant for Mr. A and others is scheduled to be held tomorrow at the Suwon District Court.