Ex-tax official suspected of receiving W3 bil. from SK Group

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Mon, November 28, 2022 | 10:57

Ex-tax official suspected of receiving W3 bil. from SK Group

Posted : 2011-06-20 13:23

Updated : 2011-06-20 13:23

Prosecutors said Saturday that they are investigating an allegation that a former high-ranking tax agency official received billions of won from an affiliate of SK Group in return for business favors.

Lee Hee-wan, who had served as the Investigation Bureau chief at the National Tax Service (NTS), was suspected of having received 50 million won ($46,000) monthly from an affiliate of SK Group, a major local conglomerate. Lee declared the payments as advisory fees.

Between June 2006 and October 2010, he was found to have received a total of around 3 billion won, said prosecutors from the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office. He retired from the post in 2006.

Investigators, who considered the amount of money too high to have been advisory fees, said that Lee allegedly received the money in exchange for interfering in NTS inspections into the group while in office.

But officials of SK Group, whom prosecutors summoned for questioning over the suspicions, denied the allegations, claiming that they had made the payments as advisory fees under a legal contract with Lee, according to the prosecutors.

Lee is also suspected of having received a total of 300 million won from a local maker of water purifiers after retirement, prosecutors said.

Lee, 62, was arrested earlier this month on charges of receiving 300 million won from an official of the country's biggest agency that assists college students wishing to transfer schools. (Yonhap)

국세청 前국장 퇴직후 SK서 30억 받아 서울중앙지검 특수2부(최윤수 부장검사)는 김영편입학원으로부터 세무조사 무마 청탁과 함께 수억원을 받은 혐의로 구속된 세무법인 대표 이희완(62)씨가 SK그룹 계열사와 청호나이스에서도 거액을 받은 사실을 확인, 대가성 여부를 조사 중이라고 25일 밝혔다. 검찰에 따르면 이씨는 대기업 세무조사를 담당하는 서울지방국세청 조사국장을 지내고 퇴직한 2006년 6월 이후 작년 10월까지 SK그룹 계열사로부터 매월 5천여만원씩 모두 30억원 이상을 자문료 명목으로 수수한 혐의를 받고 있다. 검찰은 이씨가 SK 계열사로부터 받은 돈이 통상적인 자문료로 보기에는 지나치게 액수가 큰 점으로 미뤄 조사국장 재직 당시 SK그룹의 세무조사를 무마해주고 받은 사후 수뢰금일 개연성이 있는 것으로 보고 수사 중이다. 검찰은 SK그룹 임원을 소환해 이 같은 사실을 확인했으나, SK그룹 측은 이씨와 정상적인 자문계약을 체결하고 자문료를 지급한 것이라고 주장한 것으로 알려졌다. 검찰은 이 돈의 일부가 세무조사에 관여한 다른 국세청 간부들에게 전달됐을 가능성도 있는 것으로 자금 흐름을 들여다보고 있다. (연합뉴스)

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