Ex-CFO of Daewoo Shipbuilding summoned over alleged accounting fraud

Prosecutors summoned a former CFO of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. on Tuesday over his alleged involvement in the financially troubled company’s accounting fraud.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office summoned the former executive, identified only by his surname Kim, as a suspect to question him over his alleged involvement in rigging the company’s accounting books between 2013 and 2014.

Kim, who was also a vice chairman of the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), held the position of the shipyard’s financial chief from 2012 to 2015. KDB is Daewoo Shipbuilding’s biggest shareholder.

The summons came about a week after the country’s state auditor said the shipyard is suspected of rigging its books to hide up to 1.5 trillion won (US$1.28 billion) in losses between 2013 and 2014.

The outcome of the probe by the Board of Audit and Inspection was based on an analysis of orders for 40 offshore plants won by the South Korean shipbuilder over the cited period.

Prosecutors are currently looking into some 500 orders clenched by Daewoo Shipbuilding since 2006 and are known to have detected additional problems.

The company, along with two other major shipbuilders here, is currently undergoing self-created debt-restructuring plans in the face of a decease in new orders caused by the protracted global economic slump.
Source: Yonhap