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(Photo= Yonhap news) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Jisun] Over the past six years, the total amount of embezzlement and breach of trust committed by employees and executives of companies listed on South Korea's KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets has exceeded 4.6 trillion KRW, with the average trading suspension period for these companies nearing 500 days.
According to data submitted by the Korea Exchange to Rep. Kim Hyun-jung of the Democratic Party, who is part of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, there have been 53 reported cases of embezzlement and breach of trust by KOSPI-listed companies between 2019 and August 2023. The total amount involved reached 1.8585 trillion KRW.
In the KOSDAQ market, the situation was even more severe, with 111 reported cases amounting to 2.7649 trillion KRW during the same period.
The combined amount from both markets adds up to 4.6234 trillion KRW.
So far in 2023, six cases (507 billion KRW) have been reported in the KOSPI market, including 201 billion KRW from Namyang Dairy Products. In the KOSDAQ market, 12 cases (1.036 trillion KRW) have been reported, including 417 billion KRW from Terra Science and 316 billion KRW from Noble M&B.
The consequences of these crimes are significant, as they often lead to trading suspensions or delisting, severely impacting investors. A total of 19 KOSPI-listed companies and 103 KOSDAQ-listed companies (excluding duplicates) have had their trading suspended due to embezzlement or breach of trust.
The average trading suspension period was 498.1 days for KOSPI-listed companies and 470.4 days for KOSDAQ-listed companies.
The company with the longest trading suspension is ChungHo ICT (012600) in the KOSPI market, whose shares have been suspended for 1,261 days since March 30, 2021, due to embezzlement and breach of trust by its CEO and former executives.
In the KOSDAQ market, companies like ITX (052770), CNT85 (056730), DeepMind (223310), and Arion have had their shares suspended for over 1,000 days. Additionally, 37 KOSDAQ-listed companies have been delisted due to embezzlement, breach of trust, or other reasons.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
