Chapter 14. The Premus Incident (3)

The Premus Fund, which was initially described as investing only in public agency receivables, was found to have purchased a large amount of junk corporate bonds and warrants. Additionally, it was revealed that the fund had been engaged in a Ponzi scheme. The exact amount of the 1 trillion won in managed funds that remained was not even properly confirmed, making it difficult to match the documents with the actual assets.

Investors who had invested based on the promise that the fund would only invest in public agency receivables were suddenly hit by a bolt from the blue. Corporate clients flooded in with protests, and customers stormed each branch demanding redemptions. Not only the Premus Fund but also other products saw a long line of redemption requests.

The customer service team was so busy answering phone calls that they couldn't handle any other tasks. Individual victims flocked to DA Securities demanding compensation.

Strictly speaking, DA Securities was also a victim. However, it was difficult to avoid liability for compensation just by claiming they were unaware. This concern was reflected in the stock market, and DA Securities' stock price plummeted to the lower limit.

In the media and within the group, the responsibility of Executive Yang Jeong-wook was called into question. It was natural, given that he had been promoting the Premus Fund as his achievement. DA Securities' shareholders united in demanding the dismissal of Executive Yang Jeong-wook.

For several days, news related to the Premus incident dominated the front pages of newspapers, and Yeouido was in an uproar for a while.

Initially, it was estimated that the scale of the bad assets would be around 20%, at most 30%. However, as the investigation began, the scale of the bad assets grew like a snowball. One fund was left with only worthless bonds from issuers that had gone bankrupt, and the situation was similar for other funds.

The estimated scale of the bad assets was 90%. There were even talks that it would be fortunate if even the remaining 10% could be salvaged. Fortunately, the arrest of CEO Park Tae-il and related individuals accelerated the asset recovery process.

CEO Park Tae-il, once an outstanding investor and a pioneer in the popularization of private equity funds, was now under arrest and being investigated.

"How much of the company's assets remain?"

"Did you collude with DA Securities?"

"Why did you try to flee overseas?"

"Please give a message to the victims."

Standing in the photo line, CEO Park Tae-il bowed deeply and said, "I apologize for causing trouble. I will cooperate fully with the investigation."

How seriously he intended to cooperate was questionable, given that he had assembled a super-luxury legal team of former prosecutors and judges, which infuriated the victims.

This was one of the problems with financial fraud. The perpetrator uses the money obtained from fraud to hire multiple lawyers to defend themselves, while the victims, who have lost their assets, have no means to respond.

The situation was so chaotic that there were even predictions that the succession structure of DA Financial Group would change, causing a stir on the internet.

- What kind of country is this where financial fraud worth hundreds of billions of won happens when people are bored?

- Financial fraudsters should just be executed cleanly.

- But did a new employee expose this?

- What kind of person is he?

- But how did he find out about the bad assets?

- He must have been instructed by Yang Ja-eun. There's no other way he could have known.

- What about Yang Jeong-wook? The fund is gone, and so is his position as chairman.

- Haha, he's crazy.

- Is this like a low-ranking soldier exposing corruption in the Ministry of National Defense and causing a change in the minister?

- He's crazy, but I have a feeling he'll become something big. I just know.

- But can he continue working at the company after this?

During the investigation, it was revealed that CEO Park Tae-il had lobbied the Korea Securities Depository, custodian institutions, and influential politicians, causing the scandal to spread to the political sphere. This included officials from the Financial Services Commission, Financial Supervisory Service, and even the Blue House.

A recording emerged showing CEO Park Tae-il boasting about his close relationship with Kim Bong-joon, the chief of staff for political affairs, and Yoon Jun-ki, the chief of staff for civil affairs. When Kim Myung-hyun, an administrative officer from the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser, who was dispatched to the Blue House, was identified as a key figure in the lobbying, the Blue House could not hide its embarrassment.

The prosecution summoned related individuals one after another, and the opposition party, Our People's Party, called it the "Park Tae-il Gate" and pressured President Oh Young-hwan to personally address the issue.

"A special prosecutor must be appointed to thoroughly investigate the matter."

The Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service also faced criticism. Not only did they fail to properly monitor the financial market, but there were also suspicions that they had known about the bad assets in advance and turned a blind eye.

Financial Services Commission Chairman Jang Jin-hyung stated that he was unaware of the Premus bad assets and that he had never ignored them, but no one believed him.

- Then how did the securities company employee know?

- Is it believable that the Financial Supervisory Service didn't know what a new employee who had been there for less than a year knew?

- How much did they take?

- They definitely knew but pretended not to!

- If they knew and pretended not to, it's a crime; if they really didn't know, it's incompetence.

- But they probably really didn't know. Both Jang Jin-hyung and Kim Cheon-su lack expertise and were appointed because they were close to the administration.

- This is why there are so many financial fraudsters in Korea.

- Just be honest and reveal how much they took!

The Premus incident was a significant setback for the administration, which was already facing a decline in support. If the new employee's exposure had not happened, the scandal might not have erupted until the end of the term. However, it happened now, and it has grown into a scandal involving presidential aides.

President Oh Young-hwan muttered to himself while reviewing the report.

"Han Miro... Does this new employee even realize what a big mess he has caused?"

* * *

Yang Hyun-sung.

The chairman of DA Financial Group was shouting at his son in his office.

"I sent you to build performance, and you caused such a major accident! Do you even know how much the loss is now?"

Yang Jeong-wook said, sounding aggrieved, "It was my sister's doing! She wanted the succession position and orchestrated this. You know it, Father."

Chairman Yang Hyun-sung sighed.

"Fine, let's say Yang Ja-eun gave the order. But you couldn't even handle that one thing properly, leading to this mess? Do you know that shareholders are now demanding the appointment of professional managers?"

Korean conglomerates can control the entire group with a small shareholding because other shareholders agree. While shareholders recognize Chairman Yang Hyun-sung, they have doubts about the management capabilities of the successor, Yang Jeong-wook.

The situation was being monitored, but this incident has led to a surge in opposition voices. If these opinions are ignored, the friendly shareholders will turn their backs.

"And what about the bad assets in the Premus Fund? You're not going to tell me that was also Yang Ja-eun's doing, are you?"

"Th-that..."

"Why didn't you know about the bad assets!?"

It was fortunate that it burst now; if it had continued to be sold without anyone knowing, DA Securities could have gone bankrupt.

Yang Jeong-wook tried to defend himself.

"There were no issues in the documents. Neither the Financial Supervisory Service nor the custodian institutions knew about it."

Chairman Yang Hyun-sung shouted again.

"Then how did the new employee know!"

"..."

Yang Jeong-wook was also puzzled by this.

After the incident, he learned the full story. The employee had gone to DA Card and contacted Yang Ja-eun, who then began investigating Premus.

In other words, while Yang Ja-eun escalated the issue, the person who initially discovered it was Han Miro.

Chairman Yang Hyun-sung sighed as he looked at his son.

"In running a group, you'll have enemies on all sides. Are you going to whine and blame others every time?"

He was deeply disappointed with his son. In contrast, his daughter moved quickly to seize the opportunity.

This situation forced him to reconsider the succession issue.

Yang Jeong-wook said urgently, "You're not thinking of passing the group to my sister, are you?"

"We only have two children. What can I do if one of them causes trouble? There's still time, so try to do better by then."

Chairman Yang Hyun-sung is suffering from a brain tumor.

How much longer can he serve as chairman? Can he restore his image and earn the trust of his father and shareholders to reclaim the succession position by then?

No matter how he thought about it, he felt pessimistic.

"Father!"

Chairman Yang Hyun-sung waved his hand, indicating he didn't want to hear more.

"Enough, go out."

Yang Jeong-wook left the office helplessly.

He recalled the new employee he had met in the company cafeteria.

The new employee had boldly and insolently looked him in the eye and asked daring questions, which left a strong impression.

'That guy already knew everything and was preparing to expose it.'

If he had reported it to him first, he might have found a way out.

But he went to Yang Ja-eun and set a deep trap to prevent him from escaping before exposing the issue.

'Why?'

No matter how he thought about it, he had no direct connection with the new employee. In fact, he had only seen him a few times.

'Is there some grudge against me!'

He never imagined that he would lose everything to a new employee.

There's no greater humiliation than this. He must have become a laughingstock in the business world.

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

* * *

Jin Se-yeon was shocked as she read the news.

'What? Was what Miro said that day true?'

For those who didn't invest, the collapse of the fund was of little interest. But it was different for her and her close friends.

The anchor sister who introduced her to Im Jun-il, and those around her, had trusted and invested their money.

"What? This was a fraud?"

"What do I do? I put in 200 million won."

"What will happen to my money?"

"Didn't they say the Premus Fund was safe?"

"Did they really invest in bad companies and lose everything?"

Jin Se-yeon sat there in a daze.

She knew that Im Jun-il had a crush on her. But she never imagined he would be involved in a fund fraud scandal.

The man who used to call and text her every day stopped contacting her after the news broke. When she called, he didn't answer.

If she had continued to meet Im Jun-il without knowing this, what would have happened? The thought made her shudder.

'A new analyst at DA Securities exposed it?'

Although the name wasn't directly mentioned in the news, she knew it was Han Miro who exposed it.

She recalled his behavior that day and thought,

'Could it be because of me? Did he expose it for my sake?'

...It was a misunderstanding.