It has been confirmed that the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Kibo) paid off 576 million won in debts on behalf of a company previously run by Yang, a key broker in the suspected lobbying allegations surrounding Minister of Justice nominee Kim Seung-won.
To date, the amount recovered by Kibo is a mere 3 million won.
According to data submitted by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sung-won from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and other agencies, Gusta, a company headed by Yang, received a total of 585 million won in new guarantees from Kibo: 300 million won in 2020 and 285 million won in 2021.
Kibo guarantees are a system where the corporation reinforces a company's credit when it receives loans from financial institutions.
If a company fails to repay its loan, Kibo repays the financial institution on its behalf and subsequently seeks to recover the funds from the company.
However, default events occurred on both guarantees received by Gusta, failing to repay them.
Consequently, the total amount Kibo paid to financial institutions on its behalf reached 576 million won.
Yet, the amount recovered so far has remained at just 3 million won.
The timing of when the guarantees were issued is also becoming a source of controversy.
According to Lawmaker Kim, Gusta became embroiled in lawsuits following the failure of its hand sanitizer business in 2020, and in 2022, a court ordered the company to pay another firm about 50 million won in product payments and delayed damages.
Gusta received its second new guarantee from Kibo around July 2021, prior to this.
Subsequently, Gusta applied for bankruptcy in November 2023 and was declared bankrupt by a court a month later.
However, it was confirmed that the company was selected for a support project by a government-affiliated public institution even in 2024, after the bankruptcy declaration.
The project, an online shopping mall special exhibition supported by the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSSA), does not directly disburse subsidy funds to the company, but controversy is expected over what criteria were applied for a bankrupt company to be selected as a beneficiary.
KOSSA only explained regarding the selection reason that it was "selected in accordance with business operation standards."
Lawmaker Kim Sung-won pointed out that it is necessary to verify whether the guarantee screening and subsequent management at the time were conducted in accordance with principles and standards.
He also stated that, separately from the suspicions regarding nominee Kim Seung-won and Yang, he will examine whether there were any preferential treatments or lax screenings in the public institution support process.
(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Da-in | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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