Separate From 11.3 Billion Won Deal?… Transcript Shows "Would Have Had to Refund If Not Approved"

[Anchor]

The reason we are focusing our reports on the 10-billion-won equity transaction is because Ministerial Nominee Kim Seung-won appears in the process of clinical trial approval. Kang Se-chan, the founder of Genencell, claims that the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's clinical trial approval and the investment made at the time are unrelated. However, transcripts and other records we have obtained successively reveal statements that contradict Kang's claims.

This is reported by Go Jeong-hyeon.

[Reporter]

Regarding the 11.3 billion won transaction between Genencell and Sejong Medical on October 19, 2021, Genencell founder Kang Se-chan maintains that the deal was merely an investment based on Genencell's potential value and is "separate" from the IND, meaning the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's clinical trial plan approval.

[Kang Se-chan / Genencell Founder: (We) were first introduced and had a meeting in July (2021 with Sejong Medical), reviewed documents starting in August, and evaluated the corporate value for investment in September. The investment was made because the evaluation went well, so would we attract investment just because of this single IND (clinical trial plan) approval step?]

However, around October 19 when the transaction took place, transcripts of conversations shared between Genencell founder Kang and a businessman surnamed Yang—whom Ministerial Nominee for Justice Kim Seung-won has described as a "close junior"—reveal different circumstances.

According to the prosecution's indictment and a phone call transcript disclosed by Independent Representative Han Dong-hoon, Kang called Yang 13 days prior to the transaction on October 6, asking him to have political figures help secure approval quickly, as they were set to receive investment under the condition of clinical approval.

The very next day, on October 7, Yang told Nominee Kim in a phone call, "An investment of 30 billion won has also been attracted. So the money is scheduled to come in on October 15."

Then on October 8, Kang reportedly sent a text message to Yang saying, "Approval must be granted before the 19th," which was the contract date for Genencell shares and convertible bonds, and asking, "Please ask them to grant approval that week."

According to a transcript of a phone conversation between Yang and an acquaintance on November 26 of the same year—following the 10-billion-won transaction and the MFDS approval—Yang made the following remarks:

[Businessman Surnamed Yang: I told (Kang Se-chan), 'You need to show some courtesy to Seung-won oppa as well.' And right after that, approval dropped the very next day. If approval hadn't dropped the next day, (Kang Se-chan) Professor would have had to spit out the money, 6.7 billion won.]

[Acquaintance of Businessman Surnamed Yang: That means they did something massive.]

Contrary to Kang's claims, analyses are being raised that the "MFDS approval issue," in which Nominee Kim also appears, was the core link in the "transactions surrounding Genencell."

(Video Journalist: Lee Chan-su | Video Editing: So Ji-hye | Design: Kim Min-young)

▶ [Exclusive] "11.3 Billion Won Investment and Clinical Approval Are Separate"..."Aimed for Profits"

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