Separate Deals vs. Approvals? Transcripts Point to Conditional Investment

[Anchor]

The core argument of Kang Se-chan, the founder of Genencell, is that the 10-billion-won-plus transaction has virtually nothing to do with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approval process involving then-ministerial nominee Kim Seung-won. However, listening to transcripts from that period reveals a series of conflicting statements from those involved.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

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

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

However, around October 19 when the transaction took place, transcripts of conversations between businessman Yang, whom ministerial nominee Kim Seung-won identified as a close junior, and Kang himself reveal different circumstances.

According to the prosecution's indictment and telephone transcripts released by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon, on October 6, 13 days before the transaction, Kang called Yang and requested that he help secure quick approval through political figures, saying that they were receiving investment on the condition of clinical approval.

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

It is understood that on October 8, Kang sent a text message to Yang saying, "Approval must come out before the 19th," which was the contract date for Genencell stock and convertible bonds, and "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, after the multi-billion-won transaction and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approval, Yang made the following remarks:

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

[Acquaintance of Businessman Yang: That means something enormous was done for them.]

Contrary to Kang's claims, analyses are being raised that the "Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approval issue," which also features nominee Kim, was a core link in the transactions surrounding Genencell.

(Photo: Lee Chan-su, Video Editing: So Ji-hye, Design: Kim Min-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.