[Exclusive] Swiss account probe deepens

[Anchor]

As you just saw, the National Tax Service discovered that a Swiss account once held over 20 billion won.

They are also focusing on investigating who the real owner of this fund is and where the money has gone now.

We continue with an exclusive report from reporter Kim Ji-sook.

[Report]

The National Tax Service is paying attention to the deposit and withdrawal history of the account in question.

January 2013.

Over 22.53 million Swiss francs, approximately 26 billion won at the time's exchange rate, was deposited.

December 2016.

The balance decreased to about 17,000 Swiss francs, around 20 million won.

Most of the 26 billion won was withdrawn.

Identifying the true owner of this money is the key focus of the investigation.

The National Tax Service notes that the account was jointly held in the names of Chairman Lee and his mother, Ms. Son.

This is known as the 'signature authority' system.

It is a system that allows account holders to delegate withdrawal rights to others, often used in case elderly account holders pass away when opening overseas accounts.

Ms. Son, the joint account holder, suffered a stroke at the end of 2015 and was in a difficult state to move even at the time of the withdrawals in 2016.

This is the basis for the National Tax Service's suspicion that the entire or at least part of the 20 billion won fund could have belonged to Ms. Son.

If Chairman Lee received and used this money, he may have an obligation to pay inheritance tax.

Ms. Son passed away in 2022, six years after the withdrawal. Under current tax law, any money given within 10 years prior to a parent's death is considered part of the inheritance.

[Ko Kyung-nam/Tax Accountant: "This rule exists because preemptive gifts can be used to avoid inheritance tax. For large estates, the tax rate in the 50% bracket can lead to significant taxes. By distributing wealth early at lower tax rates, the overall tax burden can be reduced..."]

The National Tax Service has reportedly identified specific transactions involving certain goods that are suspected to have been made by Chairman Lee using the disputed funds.

So far, Chairman Lee has reported that he only inherited domestic deposits and real estate from his mother and has not reported any overseas assets.

CJ Group stated that if the National Tax Service requests clarification regarding the problematic account, they will respond sincerely.

This is KBS News, Kim Ji-sook.